The tragic tale of a nobleman's seduction of a girl of lower social status, "Poor Liza" was Russia's first literary sensation: pilgrimages were made to locations mentioned in the story and suicides were even reported. Nikolay Karamzin's most well-known work of fiction, "Poor Liza" is notable for its psychological analysis of its titular character-the first time a Russian writer had attempted to portray the thoughts and feelings of a young girl in love. It is fair to say that "Poor Liza" was the most significant Russian prose in terms of popularity and influence before the emergence of Alexander Pushkin onto the Russian literary scene in the 1820s. The story was so well received that in 1803 it was translated into English, a very rare occurrence for Russian literature of the time. More sentimentalist short stories by Karamzin appeared in English in 1804, such as "Natalia" and "Julia," both of which are included in this collection.