The Russian Memoir

History and Literature
Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-8101-1929-1
Verlag: Northwestern University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Hardback

Reihe: Studies in Russian Literature and Theory

The essays in this volume seek to appreciate the literary construction of the memoir, with its dual agendas of individualized expression and reliable reportage, and explore its functions as interpretive history, social modelling, and political expression in Russian culture. The memoirs under scrutiny range widely, including those of the ""private person"" (Princess Natalia Dolgorukaia), sophisticated high culture writers (Nikolai Zabolotskii, Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph Brodsky), cultural critics and facilitators (Lidiia Ginzburg, Avdot'ia Panaeva), political dissidents (Evgeniia Ginzburg, Elena Bonner), and popular artists (filmmaker Elidar Riazanov). It examines each memoir for its aesthetic and rhetorical features as well as its cultural circumstances. In mapping the memoir's social and historical significance, the essays consider a wide range of influences and issues, including the specific impact of the author's class, gender, ideology, and life experience on his/her ""witnessing"" of Russian culture and society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I The Memoir And The World: Images Of The Intelligentsia, Jane Gary Harris And Lydia Ginzburg; The Stuffed Shirt Unstuffed - Zabolotsky's ""Early Years"" And The Complexity Of Soviet Culture, Sarah Pratt; The Italics Are Hers - Matrophobia And The Family Romance In Elena Bonner's ""Mothers And Daughters"", Helena Goscilo; Accommodating The Consumer's Desires - El'dar Riazanov's Memoirs In Soviet And Post-Soviet Russia, Alexander Prokhorov. Part II The Memoir And The Word: The Canonization Of Dolgorukaia, Gitta Hammarberg; Art And Prostokvasha - Avdot'ia Panaeva's Work, Jehanne Gheith And Beth Holmgren; The Art Of Memory - Cultural Reverence As Political Critique In Evgeniia Ginzburg's Writing Of The Gulag, Natasha Kolchevska; English As Sanctuary - Nabokov's And Brodsky's Autobiographical Writings, Galya Diment; The Tale Of Bygone Years - Reconstructing The Past In The Contemporary Russian Memoir, Marina Balina.

Über Autor(innen)

BETH HOLMGREN is a professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.