This book, first published in 2000, features analyses about and by some of the most important Russian writers of the 1980s, a period of great changes in the cultural life of Russia when the controls of Soviet communism gave way to a wide diversity of unfettered writing. A variety of critical approaches matches the diversity of Russian writers considered here. The book features David Bethea's theoretical discussion of the work of the outstanding critic and cholar Iurii Lotman and a fascinating extending interview with leading poet Ol'ga Sedakova. Several writers and works receive their first scholarly analyses in English, such as Sasha Sokolov's complex postmodern novel, Between Dog and Wolf, Elena Shvarts's poetry, and Zinovii Zinik's work. Aleksandr Zinov'ev's prose is subjected to a searching formal analysis. The book contains an essay on the literary environment of the Moscow poet Mikhail Aizenberg, and a highly controversial article that reviews Russian writing as an extension of imperialism. Writers who for various reasons fell into opprobrium during the 1980s include the Soviet village writers and the late Andrei Siniavskii (Abram Tertz). A survey of urban prose in the late 1980s looks into an uncertain future, while playwright Viktor Slavkin represents the best of contemporary Russian drama.

This book, first published in 2000, features analyses about and by some of the most important Russian writers of the 1980s, a period of great changes in the cultural life of Russia when the controls of Soviet communism gave way to a wide diversity of unfettered writing. A variety of critical approaches matches the diversity of Russian writers considered here. The book features David Bethea's theoretical discussion of the work of the outstanding critic and cholar Iurii Lotman and a fascinating extending interview with leading poet Ol'ga Sedakova. Several writers and works receive their first scholarly analyses in English, such as Sasha Sokolov's complex postmodern novel, Between Dog and Wolf, Elena Shvarts's poetry, and Zinovii Zinik's work. Aleksandr Zinov'ev's prose is subjected to a searching formal analysis. The book contains an essay on the literary environment of the Moscow poet Mikhail Aizenberg, and a highly controversial article that reviews Russian writing as an extension of imperialism. Writers who for various reasons fell into opprobrium during the 1980s include the Soviet village writers and the late Andrei Siniavskii (Abram Tertz). A survey of urban prose in the late 1980s looks into an uncertain future, while playwright Viktor Slavkin represents the best of contemporary Russian drama.

Offering original insights into Nabokov and his interaction with other writers and art forms, this volume of a two-part study includes the work of 15 eminent Nabokov specialists and scholars. Here, the focus is on intertextuality, literary reception, and suggestions for new ways of reading.

Offering original insights into Nabokov and his interaction with other writers and art forms, this, the second volume of a two-part study, includes the work of fifteen eminent Nabokov specialists and scholars. Here, the focus is on intertextuality, literary reception and suggestions for new ways of reading.

This collection of essays concerns perceptions of the West as reflected in the work of Russian writers of the Third Wave of emigration. The authors include several well-known writers such as Aksenov, Gladilin, Zinik and Loseff as well as Soviet and Western scholars, and the result is both varied and surprising: in the light it throws on the Russian mentality, on the phenomenon of exile and on aspects of the West. It will interest students of contemporary literature, of the Soviet mentality, and of exile in general.

Nabokov's complex multi-lingual and multi-cultural writings offer new delights and present new challenges to their readers. This volume reflects the richness of this artistic world and the variety of responses it evokes. Fourteen original essays by an international grouping of leading Nabokov specialists and scholars offer new insights into formative influences on thought and the dominant agencies that structure his writing: emigration, the "two worlds" theme, and multilingualism.