# Prologue explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Aleksandr Kuprin.

## What happens

The narrator's friend inherits a farm in Podol and discovers a trunk containing old books, letters, and the diary of an infantry officer named Lapshine, along with pages written by a woman named Kate. The friend sends the package to the narrator, who lightly edits the material for publication.

## Character check-ins

### Lieutenant Lapshine

His diary is discovered among the inherited items.

### Kate

Her letters, signed 'Kate' or with the letter 'K', accompany Lapshine's diary.

## Key lines

> Last summer one of my nearest friends inherited from an aunt of his a small farm in the Z⸺ district of the Government of Podol.

A close friend inherited a small farm in the Z district of Podol province last summer.

_Establishes the setting and origin of the discovered documents._

> It proved to contain the diary of an infantry officer, named Lapshine, and several leaves of a beautiful, rough Bristol paper, decorated with irises and covered with a small feminine handwriting.

The bundle held the diary of an infantry officer called Lapshine and some Bristol paper pages with feminine handwriting and iris decorations.

_Introduces the two main sources of the narrative: Lapshine's diary and Kate's letters._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters/prologue
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_se/chapters