GAITO GAZDANOV (1903-1971) joined the White Army aged just sixteen and fought in the Russian Civil War. Exiled in Paris from the 1920s onwards, he eventually became a nocturnal taxi-driver and gained prominence on the literary scene as a novelist, essayist, critic and short-story writer. The Spectre of Alexander Wolf, The Beggar and Other Stories, The Buddha's Return and The Flight are also published by Pushkin Press.