An Anthology of Russian Literature from Earliest Writings to Modern Fiction: Introduction to a Culture

by Nicholas Rzhevsky

Overview

Russia has a rich, huge, unwieldy cultural tradition. How to engage it? This pathbreaking classroom reader was designed to respond to that challenge. The literary works selected for inclusion in this anthology introduce the core cultural and historical themes of Russian civilization. Each text has resonance throughout the arts-in Rublev's icons, Meyerhold's theater, Mousorgsky's operas, Prokofiev's symphonies, Fokine's choreography, and Kandinsky's paintings. They are supported by introductions, helpful annotations, bibliographies of resources, and a companion multimedia CD that brings the anthology's cultural references to life. Intended for courses in Russian literature, Russian culture and civilization, and comparative literature, the anthology

· introduces Russian literature from the Igor Tale to village prose
· integrates literature into the larger fabric of history, culture, and the arts
· presents both new and classic translations, with helpful annotations
· elucidates historical and cultural contexts and thematic continuities and variations
· features useful resource guides to related works in all media
· includes an interactive multimedia CD with a background narrative, historical and biographical information, and vivid excerpts from "great performances" of Russian film, music, dance, theater, and graphic arts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765612465
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/01/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	608
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.76(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

I. Cultural Beginnings
1. The Tale of Igor
2. Anonymous, "Boris and Gleb"
3. "The Life of Alexis, Holy Man of God"

II. The Emerging Self
4. Avvakum. The Life of Avvakum

III. The Search for Identity
5. Gavrila Derzhavin, "Felicity"
6. "The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa"
7. Nikolai Karamzin, "Poor Liza"
8. Alexander Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman"
9. Mikhail Lermontov, "Borodino"
10. Mikhail Lermonotov, "Taman"

IV. Subversions of Secularization
11. Alexander Pushkin, Boris Godunov
12. Alexander Pushkin, "The Queen of Spades"
13. Nikolai Gogol, "The Overcoat"
14. Ivan Turgenev, "Bezhin Meadow"
15. Fedor Dostoevsky, "The Meek One"
16. Nikolai Leskov, "Lefty"
17. Leo Tolstoy, "Holstomer"

V. New Aesthetic Languages
18. Anton Chekhov, "The Lady with the Lapdog"
19. Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, Act One
20. Alexander Blok, "The Puppet Show"
21. Anna Akhmatova, "The Gray?Eyed King"
22. Vladimir Mayakovsky, "Listen!"
23. Marina Tsvetaeva, "I ask the mirror for a glimpse..."
24. Marina Tsvetaeva, "Verses about Moscow"
25. Valery Briusov, "Barely a Tenth"
26. Andrei Bely, from Petersburg: "The Escape"

VI. Thresholds: Soviet Culture and Beyond
27. Isaak Babel, "The King"
28. Sergei Esenin, "Farewell, my friend, farewell"
29. Ilf and Petrov, from Twelve Chairs: "The Sword and the Plow"
30. Mikhail Sholokhov, Virgin Soil Upturned, Ch. 7, Bk. 1
31. Mikhail Zoshchenko, "Crime and Punishment"
32. Osip Mandelstam, "We live without feeling..."
33. Anna Akhmatova, "The Last Toast"
34. Daniil Kharms, "Makarov and Peterson"
35. Chapayev Anecdotes
36. Mikhail Bulgakov, from The Master and Margarita: "Black Magic and Its Exposure"
37. Boris Pasternak, "Hamlet"
38. Vladimir Vysotsky, "Morning Exercise"
39. Fedor Abramov, "Wooden Horses"

What People are Saying About This

Nancy Condee

The multimedia CD provides a valuable opportunity for the student to see the complex ways in which cultural texts circulate in Russian society. Its multi-referentiality considerably expands the student's intellectual access to key themes, articulated in a broad range of media and stylistic registers.
—University of Pittsburgh

Victor Terras

Strikes a good balance between 'Russianness' and accessibility to an American reader.
—Brown University

Vladimir Alexandrov

A splendid introduction. ... Highly original and appealing.
—Yale University

Caryl Emerson

An astonishing anthology. ... A vivid, diversified introduction to one of the world's most provocative cultures.
—Princeton University

Editorial Reviews

A vividly fresh and individual yet broad introduction to the rich panoply of Russian culture.

Europe-Asia Studies

Arrangement of the selections is chronological, except for the early 19th century, when the progression is interrupted in order to arrange texts by topic. The introduction to each section places the literary works in their historical context and notes later cultural resonances. Following each text is an introductory guide to primary and secondary sources, including available aesthetic transformations of the work, its subjects, and its motifs in film, video, musical recordings, and art collections. These listings emphasize Russian rather than non- Russian responses in the arts (e.g. Sergei Bondarchuk's film adaptation of War and Peace rather than the American version). Rzhevsky is in the Russian department at SUNY, Stony Brook. Paper edition (unseen), $29.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews