A History of Russian SymbolismCambridge University Press, 2006 M03 9 - 504 pages This book is the first detailed history of the Russian Symbolist movement, from its initial hostile reception as a symptom of European decadence to its absorption into the mainstream of Russian literature, and eventual disintegration. It focuses on the two generations of writers whose work served as the seedbed of Existentialism in thought and of Modernism in prose and the performing arts, and reassesses their achievements in the light of modern research. At the centre of the study are the texts themselves, with prose quoted in English translation and poetry given in the original Russian with prose translations. There is a valuable bibliography of primary sources and an extensive chronological appendix. This book will fill a long-felt gap, and will be invaluable to students and teachers of Russian and comparative literature, Symbolism, modernism, and pre-revolutionary Russian culture. |
Contents
decadence or rebirth? The European fin de siècle | 1 |
Transitional writers 18921898 Volynsky and Severvnyi | 19 |
The new poetry in St Petersburg Zinaida Hippius | 38 |
Russian Symbolism acquires a name Balmont Briusov | 56 |
The foundation of Mir Iskusstva and the role of the visual | 93 |
Russian Symbolism comes of age Skorpion Severnye | 160 |
The turn of the century The early poetry of the second | 183 |
influence of Solovev and Nietzsche 1892 onwards | 226 |
The anthithesis Zolotoe Runo and Oraea Erotica | 285 |
From the real to the more real Bloks Russia and | 305 |
Russian Symbolism and Russian literature Apollon | 323 |
Epilogue | 337 |
Chronology | 343 |
Notes | 375 |
Bibliography | 432 |
447 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abramtsevo aesthetic Aleksandr Blok Aleksei Remizov Andrei Bely Annensky Apollon artists autumn Bal'mont Baltrušaitis beauty Bely's Benois Berdiaev Blok's Briusov Chulkov collection critical culture death decadent Diagilev Dmitrii Dmitrii Merezhkovsky Dobroliubov Dostoevsky eternal Filosofov Gumilev Hippius's idea intro Iskusstva journal Kniga Konevskoi Kuzmin Leonid Andreev letter Lev Shestov Lev Tolstoy Lidiia literary Liubov lyric Merezh Merezhkovsky Minsky Mir Iskusstva Moscow mystic Mystic Anarchism Nietzsche Nikolai novel Novyi Put Paris Pertsov philosophical Pis'ma poem poet poetic poetry Poliakov prose publication published quoted Remizov revolution Rozanov Russian literature Russian Symbolism Russkaia russkoi Serebrianyi Sergei Severnyi Vestnik Shakhmatovo Shestov simvolisty Simvolizm Skorpion Sobranie sochinenii Sobranie stikhov Sologub Somov soul St Petersburg Stikhi Stikhotvoreniia i poemy Symbolist theatre theme thought Tolstoy translation veka verse Vesy Viacheslav Ivanov Vladimir Solov'ev Volynsky writing written wrote Zhizni