Russian Literature, Modernism and the Visual Arts

by Catriona Kelly, Stephen Lovell

Overview

In the Russian modernist era, literature threw itself open to influences from other art forms, most particularly the visual arts. Collaborations among writers, artists, designers, and theater and film directors took place more intensively and productively than ever before or since. Yet this transcendence of the boundaries among art forms also gave rise to confrontation and creative tension. This collection of essays by leading British, American and Russian scholars draws on a rich variety of material to demonstrate the creative power and dynamism of Russian culture "on the boundaries."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521087902
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/11/2008
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction: boundaries of the spectacular Catriona Kelly and Stephen Lovell; Part I. The Arts Reflected in Literature: 1. Defining the face: observations on Dostoevskii's creative processes Konstantin Barsht; 2. Painting and autobiography: Anna Prismatova's Pesok and Anna Akhmatova's Epicheskie motivy; 3. Picture windows: the art of Andrei Siniavskii Jane Grayson; 4. Mikhail Zoshchenko's shadow operas Alexander Zholkovsky; Part II. Adaptations, Collaborations, Disputes and Rapprochements: Russian Literature, Visual Arts, and Performance: 5. 'Theatricality' as a concept in the Russian modernist movement; 6. Design on drama: Chekhov and Simov Cynthia Marsh; Khlebnikov eye Robin Milner-Gulland; 8. Cinematic literature and literary cinema: Olesha, Room and the search for a new art form Milena Michalski; 9. Meaningful voids: facelessness in Platov and Malevich Andrew Wachtel; 10. Painted mirrors: landscape and self-representation in women's verbal and visual art Pamela Chester; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"The intentions of the editors and authors, as noted in the Introduction include the introduction of "less familiar artists" alongside the more well-known ones; the exploration of principles involved in such collaboration, adaptation and appropriation; amd relationships between the Modernists and their Realist contemporarires on both ends of the time period. The work clearly succeeds." H-NET Reviews

"The articles of Russian Literature, Modernism and the Visual Arts will be of interest to those who specialize in Russian modernism, and perhaps also to those who teach Russian culture and would like to add to their treatment of the arts during this exciting period...it is a wonderful book that belongs in any university library and that will provide hours of thought-provoking reading and viewing - the many illustrations complement the text as well, as befits a book on this subject." Slavic and East European Journal

From the Publisher