Publisher's Synopsis
In the last decade, Russia has experienced not just a sweeping political revolution, but vast cultural and social upheavals. In this highly original book, Rosalind Marsh examines the role literature has played in reassessing Russia's past, in transforming public opinion, and in promoting political change in Russia.
A veritable chronology of Russian literary politics during the last decade, the book analyzes the content and influence of newly published literature on a variety of historical themes, from Stalin and Stalinism, Lenin, the Civil War, and the February and October Revolution to the end of the Tsarist era. Marsh further explores the heated moral and political debates inspired in myriad segments of Russian society by authors such as Rybakov, Solzhenitsyn, Grossman, Bunin, and Gorky.
By investigating the evolving role and symbiotic relationship of history and literature in modern Russia, the volume also sheds light on the difficulties and challenges still facing Russian writers and historians under Boris Yeltsin's presidency.
