Gary Rosenshield offers a new interpretation of Dostoevsky's greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov. He explores Dostoevsky's critique and exploitation of the jury trial for his own ideological agenda, both in his journalism and his fiction, contextualizing his portrayal of trials and trial participants (lawyers, jurors, defendants, judges) in the political, social, and ideological milieu of his time. Further, the author presents Dostoevsky's critique in terms of the main notions of the critical legal studies movement in the United States, showing how, over one hundred and twenty years...

This book is a study devoted to exploring the use of a Russian version of the Jewish stereotype (the ridiculous Jew) in the works of three of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Rosenshield does not attempt to expose the stereotype--which was self-consciously and unashamedly employed. Rather, he examines how stereotypes are used to further the very different artistic, cultural, and ideological agendas of each writer. What distinguishes this book from others is that it explores the problems that arise when an ethnic stereotype is so fully incorporated into a work of art that it...

This study examines the treatment of physical pain in a selection of classical Greek plays and nineteenth-century Russian novels. The author highlights parallels between these Greek and Russian texts and analyzes how they employ pain to investigate the legitimacy of the state and the justice of the world order.

Napoleon in the Russian Imaginary focuses on the response of Russia's greatest writers-poets, novelists, critics, and historians-to the idea of "Great Man" as an agent of transformational change as it manifests itself in the person and career of Napoleon.