Viktor Astafiev (1924-2001) was the first to destroy the canons of depicting war that had developed in Soviet times, telling the brutal truth about it and asserting the right of a front-line author to remember “his” war.

Works included in the collection united by an eternal theme: the confrontation between the creative power of love and the destructive elements of war.

“The Shepherd and the Shepherdess” - the favorite brainchild of Viktor Astafiev - remains a mystery to this day, both for critics and readers, because contained in “ modern pastoral" time - from the century of Manon Lescaut to the present day - penetrates further into unknown spatial dimensions...