Pushkin's status as Russia's national poet rests as much on the breadth of his cultural influence as on the intrinsic quality of his works. Pushkin's Legacy reflects in various ways the areas in which this influence has been felt. Part I considers some of the key factors in defining Pushkin for posterity, in particular the crucial role played by the critic Belinskii and the problematics of periodising Pushkin. Part II examines the richness of Pushkin's poetics, including the ways in which his work challenged the established boundaries between poetry and prose. Part III examines Russian...

Pushkin's status as the founding father of Russian literature owes much to his stylistic and linguistic innovations across a wide range of literary genres. But equally important is the influence he exerted on his successors via his exploitation of myth in its widest sense. His poetry, prose and drama frequently draw upon myths of classical antiquity, myths of modern European culture - grand narratives such as the Don Juan legend and Dante's Inferno - as well as uniquely Russian myths, particularly those associated with St Petersburg and its founder Peter the Great. It was through the...

From his earliest publications onwards Pushkin has been the source of inspiration, and imitation, for other writers, as well as composers, painters and, more recently, film-makers. This book seeks to explore the different relationship his followers have sought with the 'founding father' of modern Russian culture. Pushkin's Secret: Russian Writers Reread and Rewrite Pushkin takes a variety of approaches. Some contributors to the collection trace the way Pushkin's works provided the template for the characters and stories which were produced in the first decades after his untimely death in...

'The universal significance of this historic event becomes ever more relevant in our own turbulent times.' Mike Leigh 'One of our nation's defining moments.' Stuart MaconieThe Peterloo Massacre is a revealing and compelling account of that event, one of the darkest days in Britain's social history.

Joe Andrew and Robert Reid assemble thirteen analytical discussions of Tolstoi’s key works, written by leading scholars from around the world. The works studied cover almost the entire length of Tolstoi’s creative career, from some of his earliest stories of the 1850s (The Sevastopol Stories), to those of his last period, including posthumous publications (The Kreutzer Sonata and Father Sergius). Particular attention is paid to his two masterpieces, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. All the studies are based on the most recent developments in cultural theory. The reader of this work will...