Like many writers, Alexander Pushkin often created multiple versions of the same work, leaving readers to wonder which he intended as final and authoritative a question complicated, moreover, by his fraught relationship with the repressive regime of tsar Nicholas I. Illuminating the creative processes and historical realities that shaped Pushkin s writing, this richly annotated series reproduces each work exactly as it appeared in the final Russian-language edition published during Pushkin s lifetime, resulting in the handsome artifactual feel of an original Pushkin text. In volumes edited by...
Like many writers, Alexander Pushkin often created multiple versions of the same work, leaving readers to wonder which he intended as final and author...
Alexander Pushkin's lyric poetry--much of it known to Russians by heart--is the cornerstone of the Russian literary tradition, yet until now there has been no detailed commentary of it in any language. Michael Wachtel's book, designed for those who can read Russian comfortably but not natively, provides the historical, biographical, and cultural context needed to appreciate the work of Russia's greatest poet. Each entry begins with a concise summary highlighting the key information about the poem's origin, subtexts, and poetic form (meter, stanzaic structure, and rhyme scheme). In...
Alexander Pushkin's lyric poetry--much of it known to Russians by heart--is the cornerstone of the Russian literary tradition, yet until now there ...
Since his death in 1837, Alexander Pushkin--often called the "father of Russian literature"--has become a timeless embodiment of Russian national identity, adopted for diverse ideological purposes and reinvented anew as a cultural icon in each historical era (tsarist, Soviet, and post-Soviet). His elevation to mythic status, however, has led to the celebration of some of his writings and the shunning of others. Throughout the history of Pushkin studies, certain topics, texts, and interpretations have remained officially off-limits in Russia--taboos as prevalent in today's Russia as ever...
Since his death in 1837, Alexander Pushkin--often called the "father of Russian literature"--has become a timeless embodiment of Russian national i...
When geniuses meet, something extraordinary happens, like lightning produced from colliding clouds, observed Russian poet Alexander Blok. There is perhaps no literary collision more fascinating and deserving of study than the relationship between Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), Russia's greatest poet, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81), its greatest prose writer. In the twentieth century, Pushkin, "Russia's Shakespeare," became enormously influential, his literary successors universally acknowledging and venerating his achievements. In the nineteenth century, however, it was Dostoevsky more than...
When geniuses meet, something extraordinary happens, like lightning produced from colliding clouds, observed Russian poet Alexander Blok. There is per...
The Pushkin Handbook, a collection of studies by leading Pushkin scholars from the former Soviet Union, North America, and elsewhere, unites in one volume a multiplicity of voices engaged in a genuinely post-Soviet dialogue. From its beginnings, Pushkin's oeuvre has accommodated numerous, often competing readings. This book is further testimony to the continuing complexity of Russia's preeminent writer: his place in the literary and cultural cosmos, his relationship to his Russian predecessors and contemporaries, and his reception and interpretation at various points in history.
The Pushkin Handbook, a collection of studies by leading Pushkin scholars from the former Soviet Union, North America, and elsewhere, unites in...
Modern Russian literature has two "first" epochs: secular literature's rapid rise in the eighteenth century and Alexander Pushkin's Golden Age in the early nineteenth. In the shadow of the latter, Russia's eighteenth-century culture was relegated to an obscurity hardly befitting its actually radical legacy. And yet the eighteenth century maintains an undeniable hold on the Russian historical imagination to this day. Luba Golburt's book is the first to document this paradox. In formulating its self-image, the culture of the Pushkin era and after wrestled far more with the meaning of the...
Modern Russian literature has two "first" epochs: secular literature's rapid rise in the eighteenth century and Alexander Pushkin's Golden Age in the ...
In the eighteenth century, as modern forms of literature began to emerge in Russia, most of the writers producing it were members of the nobility. But their literary pursuits competed with strictly enforced obligations to imperial state service. Unique to Russia was the Table of Ranks, introduced by Emperor Peter the Great in 1722. Noblesse oblige was not just a lofty principle; aristocrats were expected to serve in the military, civil service, or the court, and their status among peers depended on advancement in ranks. Irina Reyfman illuminates the surprisingly diverse effects of...
In the eighteenth century, as modern forms of literature began to emerge in Russia, most of the writers producing it were members of the nobility. But...
