Exotic Moscow under Western eyes
By: Irene Masing-Delic.
Series: Cultural revolutions: Russia in the twentieth century
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 245
ISBN-13: 9781934843406
Subjects: Russian literature -- History and criticism; Russia -- In literature; National characteristics, Russian, in literature
Description: This collection of essays on Turgenev, Goncharov, Conrad, Dostoevsky, Blok, Briusov, Gor?kii, Pasternak and Nabokov represents diverse voices but is also unified. One invariant is the recurring distinction between ?culture? and ?civilization? and the vision of Russia as the bearer of culture because it is ?barbaric.? Another stance advocates the synthesis of ?sense and sensibility? and the vision of ?Apollo? and ?Dionysus? creating a ?civilized culture? together. Those voices that delight in the artificiality of civilization are complemented by those apprehensive of the dangers in barbarism. This collection thus adds new perspectives to the much-debated opposition of vital Russia and a declining West, offering novel interpretations of classics from Oblomov to Lolita and The Idiot to Doctor Zhivago.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.