A History of Russian Literature

Abstract

The History of Russian Literature provides a comprehensive account of Russian writing from its earliest origins in the monastic works of Kiev up to the present day, still rife with the creative experiments of post-Soviet literary life. Five chronological parts by design unfold in diachronic histories; they can be read individually but are presented as inseparable across the span of a national literature. Throughout its course, this History follows literary processes as they worked in respective periods and places, whether in monasteries, at court, in publishing houses, in the literary marketplace, or the Writers’ Union. Evolving institutional practices used to organize literature are themselves a part of the story of literature told in poetry, drama, and prose including diaries and essays. Equally prominent is the idea of writers’ agency in responding to tradition and reacting to larger forces such as church and state that shape the literary field. Coverage strikes a balance between extensive overview and in-depth thematic discussion, addressing trans-historical questions through case studies detailing the importance of texts, figures, and notions. The book does not follow the decline model often used in accounts of the nineteenth century as a change-over between ages of prose and poetry. We trace in the evolution of literature two interrelated processes: changes in subjectivities and the construction of national narratives. It is through categories of nationhood, literary politics, and literary life, forms of selfhood, and forms of expression that the intense influence of literature on a culture as a whole occurs.

A Foundation for Russia? Memories of World War II for Young Russians

“…Nekrasov depicted a cruel everyday life at the frontline, showing the Red Army’s chronic supply shortages, some soldiers’ lack of discipline, and the ever-presence of death. Nekrasov’s novella was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1947, although it was harshly criticized for its limited perspective on the war—a perspective literally drawn from the trenches—which did not correspond to the dominant narrative perspective at the time of an “omnipresent Tolstoy-like author” (Kahn et al 2018, 728) 10 . This frank perspective made Nekrasov’s work a revelatory text on the war.…”

“…This frank perspective made Nekrasov’s work a revelatory text on the war. It influenced other writers of so-called lieutenant’s prose, such as Konstantin Vorob’ev, Vasil’ Bykov, and Viktor Astaf’ev (Kahn et al 2018, 728; Stepanova 2015, 37–38) 11 . To this day, literature continues to be a site of conflicting assessments of the wartime period.…”

An Ancient in Catherinian Russia: Classical Reception, Sensibility, and Nobility in Princess Ekaterina Urusova's Poetry of the 1770s

“…79 The phrase "Let us here abandon rank" recalls the first of the rules of behavior that Catherine hung in her Hermitage (built 1764-75), "Оставить все чины вне дверей" (Leave all ranks at the door). 80 Even the theme of love, which pervades Polion and which has been interpreted as signaling the need for feminine influence, is explicable with reference to Catherine's political image. Richard Wortman has identified love as a defining theme of Catherine's "scenario of power," or the discursive and visual means by which she represented her power and formulated her relationship with the Russian ruling elite.…”