Kategoria BISAC: Literary Criticism >> Russian & Former Soviet Union

At once novel, memoir, political apology, and historical document, How It All Began, known in Russia as "the prison novel," adds deeply to our understanding of this vital intellectual and maligned historical figure. The panoramic story, composed under the worst of...

"This lively and often moving collection of essays is an important contribution to Western scholarship on Soviet society and culture during the Second World War.... a] straightforward but lively description of cultural life, unhampered by excessive interpretation or cultural theory. For all those who love Russia s cultural heritage, these essays cast a welcome spotlight on some of the people and pockets of life from that tragic but compelling time." Canadian Slavonic Papers

"Enjoyable to read and accessible to the nonspecialist, Culture and Entertainment is not only an indispensable...

Since it first appeared in 1978, the Polish quarterly Krytyka (Critique) has been a showcase for some of the best writing on politics, sociology, cultural criticism, economics, and history from Poland. Founded by a group of oppositional activists that included Adam Michnik and Jacek Kuron, the journal began as an underground outlet for critical political thinking in the period prior to Solidarity. It survived the communist crackdown on Solidarity in 1981 to become the leading source of democratic thought in the new Poland. Today Krytyka is published ''above...

This book studies the made-to-order genre of socialist-realist fiction that was produced at the direction of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy (MPD) as a part of the war for men's minds waged by the Soviet State. The first chapter is a history of the genre, tracing it from its roots in the Revolution to the dissolution of the MDP in 1991. Topics examined in the book include the attitude toward Germans following World War II; the retirement of the World War II generation; military wives; Dear John letters; life at remote posts; the military as a socializing...

Alexander Pushkin's four compact plays, later known as The Little Tragedies, were written at the height of the author's creative powers, and their influence on many Russian and Western writers cannot be overestimated. Yet Western readers are far more familiar with Pushkin's lyrics, narrative poems, and prose than with his drama. The Little Tragedies have received few translations or scholarly examinations. Setting out to redress this and to reclaim a cornerstone of Pushkin's work, Evodokimova and her distinguished contributors offer the first thorough critical study of these plays....

Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls, a comic masterpiece about a mysterious con man and his grotesque victims, is one of the major works of Russian literature. It was translated into English in 1942 by Bernard Guilbert Guerney; the translation was hailed by Vladimir Nabokov as "an extraordinarily fine piece of work" and is still considered the best translation of Dead Souls ever published. Long out of print, the Guerney translation of Dead Souls is now reissued. The text has been made more faithful to Gogol's original by removing passages that Guerney inserted from earlier...

Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) enjoyed worldwide fame of a kind unmatched by that of any other writer in the first half of the twentieth century. Prodigiously gifted and prolific, riddled with contradictions, praised increasingly for political rather than literary reasons, he left a vast body of writing that contains acknowledged masterpieces alongside many currently neglected works that still await impartial assessment.

Taken together, the pieces in this book (many of them based on fuller texts than those of previously published translations) present a surprising and unfamiliar...

Women Writers in Russian Literature presents a critical overview of Russian women writers from earliest times to the present, including emigre authors. Each of the 14 essays is by a scholar in a particular field; together, they cover all of Russian literature--from old Russia through the 18th and 19th centuries and up to the present--and include all genres: prose, poetry, drama, and autobiography. This collection examines images of women, and reintroduces Russian women writers whose recognition is long overdue. It also focuses on issues of reception and canon formation, and the...

One of the greatest writers of all time, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) is best known for such masterpieces as "Crime and Punishment "and "The Brothers Karamazov." His works are widely read and studied today, and he has received much biographical and critical attention. Like many other writers of enduring literature, he engages timeless moral and theological issues. His writings and ideas are complex and reflect the swirling political and intellectual controversies of his time. This encyclopedia is a convenient and comprehensive guide to his life and writings.

Through more than 200...

Joseph Brodsky's last volume of poems in English, So Forth, represents eight years of masterful self-translation from the Russian, as well as a substantial body of work written directly in English.

"Nobel laureate Brodsky completed work on this sobering and brilliant collection just a week before his death ...." Brodsky's death is a loss to literature; his final collection of poems is the best consolation we could ask for." - Publishers Weekly