A History of Russian Symbolism

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.

Acknowledgements; Prologue: decadence or rebirth? The European fin de siècle and the Russian precursors; Part I. The art of the cell: 1. Transitional writers; 2. The new poetry in St Petersburg; 3. Russian Symbolism acquires a name; Part II. Collective Creation: 4. The foundation of Mir Iskusstva and the role of the visual and performing arts; 5. From Mir Iskusstva to Novyi Put; 6. Russian Symbolism comes of age; Part III. Gleams Of Paradise: 7. The turn of the century; 8. The Sophia-myth and the theme of apocalypse; Part IV. A Glittering Hell: 9. The Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 revolution; 10. The antithesis; Part V. Our Home From The Beginning: 11. 'From the real to the more real'; 12. Russian Symbolism and Russian literature; Epilogue; Notes; Chronology; Notes; Bibliography, Index.