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What constituted the 'private' in the eighteenth-century? In
Representing private lives of the Enlightenment authors look beyond
a simple equation of the private and the domestic to explore the
significance of the individual and its constructions of identity
and environment. Taking case studies from Russia, France, Italy and
England, specialists from a range of disciplines analyse
descriptions of the private situated largely outside the familial
context: the nobleman at the theatre or in his study, the woman in
her boudoir, portraitists and their subject, the solitary wanderer
in the public garden, the penitent at confession. This critical
approach provides a comparative framework that simultaneously
confirms the Enlightenment as a pan-European movement, both
intellectually and socially, whilst uncovering striking
counterpoints. What emerges is a unique sense of how individuals
from different classes and cultures sought to map their social and
domestic sphere, and an understanding of the permeable boundaries
separating private and public.
Russia possesses one of the richest and most admired literatures of
Europe, reaching back to the eleventh century. A 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. The volume proceeds chronologically in
five parts, extending from Kievan Rus' in the 11th century to the
present day. The coverage strikes a balance between extensive
overview and in-depth thematic focus. Parts are organized
thematically in chapters, which a number of keywords that are
important literary concepts that can serve as connecting motifs and
'case studies', in-depth discussions of writers, institutions, and
texts that take the reader up close and personal. Visual material
also underscores the interrelation of the word and image at a
number of points, particularly significant in the medieval period
and twentieth century. The History addresses major continuities and
discontinuities in the history of Russian literature across all
periods, and in particular brings out trans-historical features
that contribute to the notion of a national literature. The
volume's time range has the merit of identifying from the early
modern period a vital set of national stereotypes and popular
folklore about boundaries, space, Holy Russia, and the charismatic
king that offers culturally relevant material to later writers.
This volume delivers a fresh view on a series of key questions
about Russia's literary history, by providing new mappings of
literary history and a narrative that pursues key concepts (rather
more than individual authorial careers). This holistic narrative
underscores the ways in which context and text are densely woven in
Russian literature, and demonstrates that the most exciting way to
understand the canon and the development of tradition is through a
discussion of the interrelation of major and minor figures,
historical events and literary politics, literary theory and
literary innovation.
Alexander Radishchev’s Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is
among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in
the age of Catherine the Great. An account of a fictional journey
along a postal route, it blends literature, philosophy, and
political economy to expose social and economic injustices and
their causes at all levels of Russian society. Not long after the
book’s publication in 1790, Radishchev was condemned to death for
its radicalism and ultimately exiled to Siberia instead.
Radishchev’s literary journey is guided by intense moral
conviction. He sought to confront the reader with urgent ethical
questions, laying bare the cruelty of serfdom and other
institutionalized forms of exploitation. The Journey’s multiple
strands include sentimental fictions, allegorical discourses,
poetry, theatrical plots, historical essays, a treatise on raising
children, and comments on corruption and political economy, all
informed by Enlightenment arguments and an interest in placing
Russia in its European context. Radishchev is perhaps the first in
a long line of Russian writer-dissenters such as Herzen and
Solzhenitsyn who created a singular literary idiom to express a
subversive message. In Andrew Kahn and Irina Reyfman’s idiomatic
and stylistically sensitive translation, one of imperial Russia’s
most notorious clandestine books is now accessible to
English-speaking readers.
'no one pitied him as he would have liked to be pitied' As Ivan
Ilyich lies dying he begins to re-evaluate his life, searching for
meaning that will make sense of his sufferings. In 'The Death of
Ivan Ilyich' and the other works in this volume, Tolstoy conjures
characters who, tested to the limit, reveal glorious and unexpected
reserves of courage or baseness of a near inhuman kind. Two vivid
parables and 'The Forged Coupon', a tale of criminality, explore
class relations after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and the
connection between an ethical life and worldly issues. In 'Master
and Workman' Tolstoy creates one of his most gripping dramas about
human relationships put to the test in an extreme situation. 'The
Death of Ivan Ilyich' is an existential masterpiece, a biting
satire that recounts with extraordinary power the final illness and
death of a bourgeois lawyer. In his Introduction Andrew Kahn
explores Tolstoy's moral concerns and the stylistic features of
these late stories, sensitively translated by Nicolas Pasternak
Slater. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's
Classics has made available the widest range of literature from
around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's
commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a
wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions
by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text,
up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
What defines a modern short story is much more than a question of
length. Despite the efforts of early pioneers like Edgar Allan Poe,
the genre was originally synonymous with the anecdote or tale and
seen more as entertainment than art. However it has become far more
than that, and this Very Short Introduction considers afresh the
form's ongoing innovations in plot construction, capacity for
psychological insight, and ability to offer intensely concentrated
perceptions. This book charts the rise of the short story from its
original appearance in magazines and newspapers, largely in the
United States and Great Britain. For much of the nineteenth
century, tales were written for the press, and the form's history
is marked by engagement with popular fiction. From the later
nineteenth century, the short story earned a reputation for its
skillful use of plot design and character study distinct from the
novel. After the First World War it found outlets in high-brow
publications, and single-author collections, as well as
anthologies, were regularly published. Exploring the form's
techniques and themes, Andrew Kahn considers the continuity and
variation in key structures and techniques such as the beginning,
the creation of voice, the ironic turn or plot twist, and how
writers manage endings. Throughout he draws on examples from an
international and flourishing corpus of work, with close analysis
of classic and lesser-known stories by American, Canadian, Irish,
Australian, Russian, and French masters such as James Baldwin,
Grace Paley, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Taylor, William Trevor, Helen
Garner, Chekhov, and Guy de Maupassant. Very Short Introductions:
Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short
Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds
of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books
are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our
expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and
enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly
readable.
Alexander Radishchev’s Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is
among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in
the age of Catherine the Great. An account of a fictional journey
along a postal route, it blends literature, philosophy, and
political economy to expose social and economic injustices and
their causes at all levels of Russian society. Not long after the
book’s publication in 1790, Radishchev was condemned to death for
its radicalism and ultimately exiled to Siberia instead.
Radishchev’s literary journey is guided by intense moral
conviction. He sought to confront the reader with urgent ethical
questions, laying bare the cruelty of serfdom and other
institutionalized forms of exploitation. The Journey’s multiple
strands include sentimental fictions, allegorical discourses,
poetry, theatrical plots, historical essays, a treatise on raising
children, and comments on corruption and political economy, all
informed by Enlightenment arguments and an interest in placing
Russia in its European context. Radishchev is perhaps the first in
a long line of Russian writer-dissenters such as Herzen and
Solzhenitsyn who created a singular literary idiom to express a
subversive message. In Andrew Kahn and Irina Reyfman’s idiomatic
and stylistically sensitive translation, one of imperial Russia’s
most notorious clandestine books is now accessible to
English-speaking readers.
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A Hero of Our Time (Paperback)
Mikhail Lermontov; Translated by Nicolas Pasternak Slater; Introduction by Andrew Kahn; Notes by Andrew Kahn
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R279
R198
Discovery Miles 1 980
Save R81 (29%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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'After all that - how, you might wonder, could one not become a
fatalist?' Lermontov's hero, Pechorin, is a young army officer
posted to the Caucasus, where his adventures - amorous and reckless
- do nothing to alleviate his boredom and cynicism. World-weary and
self-destructive, Pechorin is alienated from those around him yet
he is full of passion and romantic ardour, sensitive as well as
arrogant. His complex, contradictory character dominates A Hero of
Our Time, the first great Russian novel, in which the intricate
narrative unfolds episodically, transporting the reader from the
breathtaking terrain of the Caucasus to the genteel surroundings of
spa resorts. Told in an engaging yet pointedly ironic style, the
story expresses Lermontov's own estrangement from the stifling
conventions of bourgeois society and the oppression of Russian
autocracy, but it also captures a longing for freedom through acts
of love and bravery. This new edition also includes Pushkin's
Journey to Arzrum, in which Pushkin describes his own experiences
of Russia's military campaigns in the Caucasus and which provides a
fascinating counterpoint to Lermontov's novel. ABOUT THE SERIES:
For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the
widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable
volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the
most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features,
including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful
notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further
study, and much more.
'Your Majesty may find it extraordinary that I should answer with a
shipment of fruit your letter of 6 August, in which you inform me
that you are sending the plan for a treaty, and that of the 8
September, in which you are so good as to share with me equally
important intelligence. Things big and small often come from the
same source: my watermelons derive from the same principles as our
planned alliance...' (To Frederick the Great) Catherine the Great's
letters present a vivid picture of Russia in a momentous age. They
also offer a unique account of her personal development and
intimate life, her strategic acumen as a diplomat and military
commander, and her political skills at the Russian court and in
handling foreign monarchs. Born a German princess, Catherine
married into the Russian royal family and came to the throne after
a coup. As absolute ruler for 34 years she presided over the
expansion of the Russian empire, legislated actively to reform the
country in keeping with the principles of the Enlightenment,
actively promoted the arts and sciences, and in her correspondence
engaged with the most renowned minds in Europe, among them Diderot
and Voltaire. Her letters are her literary masterpiece, written to
a wide circle of associates and friends, not least her most
celebrated lover and ally, Potemkin. Combining her wit, charm, and
quick eye for detail, they entertain and tell the griping story of
a self-made woman and legendary ruler. This edition of the letters
offers a taste of Catherine's entire writing career, with
biographies of Catherine's addressees, a thorough overview of her
reign and an analysis of Catherine's literary skill as a
letter-writer. Organized chronologically and thematically into six
periods, each section also features an introduction to the
domestic, personal and foreign policy contexts out of which her
letters emerge.
The Queen of Spades has long been acknowledged as one of the
world's greatest short stories. In this classic literary
representation of gambling, Alexander Pushkin explores the nature
of obsession. Hints of the occult and gothic alternate with scenes
of St Petersburg high-society in the story of the passionate
Hermann's quest to master chance and make his fortune at the
card-table. Underlying the taut plot is an ironical treatment of
the romantic dreamer and social outcast. This volume contains three
other major works of Pushkin's fiction, moving from the witty
parodies of sentimentalism and high melodrama in The Tales of
Belkin to an early experiment with recreating the past in Peter the
Great's Blackamoor. It concludes with the novel-length masterpiece
The Captain's Daughter, which combines historical fiction in the
manner of Sir Walter Scott with the colour and devices of the
Russian fairy-tale in a narrative of rebellion and romance. These
new translations, as well as being meticulously faithful to the
original, do full justice to the elegance and fluency of Pushkin's
prose. The Introduction provides insightful readings of the stories
and places them in their European literary context. A chronology of
the Pugachov Uprising illuminates the events in The Captain's
Daughter. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's
Classics has made available the widest range of literature from
around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's
commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a
wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions
by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text,
up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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Persian Letters (Paperback)
Montesquieu; Translated by Margaret Mauldon; Edited by Andrew Kahn
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R373
R304
Discovery Miles 3 040
Save R69 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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'Oh! Monsieur is Persian? That's most extraordinary! How can
someone be Persian?' Two Persian travellers, Usbek and Rica, arrive
in Paris just before the death of Louis XIV and in time to witness
the hedonism and financial crash of the Regency. In their letters
home they report on visits to the theatre and scientific societies,
and observe the manners and flirtations of polite society, the
structures of power and the hypocrisy of religion. Irony and bitter
satire mark their comparison of East and West and their quest for
understanding. Unsettling news from Persia concerning the female
world of the harem intrudes on their new identities and provides a
suspenseful plot of erotic jealousy and passion. This pioneering
epistolary novel and work of travel-writing opened the world of the
West to its oriental visitors and the Orient to its Western
readers. This is the first English translation based on the
original text, revealing this lively work as Montesquieu first
intended. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's
Classics has made available the widest range of literature from
around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's
commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a
wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions
by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text,
up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Alexander Pushkin stands in a unique position as the founding
father of Russian literature. In this Companion, leading scholars
discuss Pushkin's work in its political, literary, social and
intellectual contexts. In the first part of the book individual
chapters analyse his poetry, his theatrical works, his narrative
poetry and historical writings. The second section explains and
samples Pushkin's impact on broader Russian culture by looking at
his enduring legacy in music and film from his own day to the
present. Special attention is given to the reinvention of Pushkin
as a cultural icon during the Soviet period. No other volume
available brings together such a range of material and such
comprehensive coverage of all Pushkin's major and minor writings.
The contributions represent state-of-the-art scholarship that is
innovative and accessible, and are complemented by a chronology and
a guide to further reading.
Alexander Pushkin stands in a unique position as the founding
father of Russian literature. In this Companion, leading scholars
discuss Pushkin's work in its political, literary, social and
intellectual contexts. In the first part of the book individual
chapters analyse his poetry, his theatrical works, his narrative
poetry and historical writings. The second section explains and
samples Pushkin's impact on broader Russian culture by looking at
his enduring legacy in music and film from his own day to the
present. Special attention is given to the reinvention of Pushkin
as a cultural icon during the Soviet period. No other volume
available brings together such a range of material and such
comprehensive coverage of all Pushkin's major and minor writings.
The contributions represent state-of-the-art scholarship that is
innovative and accessible, and are complemented by a chronology and
a guide to further reading.
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