This book includes articles written and collected as part of the 'Shelf' project. Created in 2017, the project aimed to identify the most important works of Russian literature. To this end, a large community of experts compiled a list of 108 works that have left their mark on history, expanded the possibilities of literature, influenced the development of language, thought, and society, revealed something new about the world and man, and entered the Russian literary canon. These include novels, stories, short stories, plays, poems, and literary memoirs—from 'The Tale of Igor's Campaign' to the novel 'Chapayev and Void.' The authors have tried to write about each of these works clearly and accessibly, drawing on extensive scholarly and critical literature, placing each in a larger literary context, and discussing other texts that influenced it and were influenced by it.

The first two volumes of this publication include 60 articles on Russian literature from the time of Ancient Rus to 1917.