Alexandros Papadiamantis (1851 - 1911), one of the greatest European short story writers, entered the literary scene through the portal of the novel: The Immigrant (1879), The Merchants of Nations (1882), The Gypsy Girl (1884).

These three early novels did not attract the attention they deserved, as the author's short stories gathered almost all the reading and critical interest.

However, given the everlasting evaluative precedence of his short stories, the novelist Papadiamantis needs to be re-discussed and re-evaluated, something that has indeed already begun to take place recently.

In this direction, the present collection of critical studies aims to contribute.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]