The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature by Neil s> Cornwell (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 715 585-90' = Khristianskoechtenie, 2, iX-X, I882, 585-615; Voznesenskijlacks a date (= I999); DarlowandMoule(I9I i) lackavolumenumber(= vol. 2, pt 3); there are spelling mistakes in Nemirovsky, GK, vols 4 and 5, viz. 'Bozidar' = Bozidar and 'Wilna' = Vilna, while Barnicot& Simmons (I 95I) are given the abridgedreference'Barnicot&Simmons (1966)'. It is surprising thatthebibliographydoes not include Simmons'sSome SixteenthandSeventeenth Century Cyrillic BooksinBritishandIrishLibraries (Oxford, I99 I) especially since four of the eighty-fivebooks listed in it are not to be found in this catalogue, viz. a prayerbook publishedat Venice in I527 (no. 3), a hieraticonpublished at Vilnius in I583 (no. 30), a Margaritapublishedat Moscow in I64I (no. 66) and a horologion publishedin I652 (no. 72).Ifthesereferencesareinaccurate, it should have been pointed out. These are all, however, minor blemishes on an otherwiseexcellent achievement. UniversityofAntwerp FRANCIS J. THOMSON Cornwell, Neil (ed.). 7The Routledge Companion toRussianLiterature. Routledge, London and New York,200I. X+ 27 I pp. Bibliography.Index. [45.00; ?I 2.99. THIS volume consists of twenty essays, thirteen of which have already appearedasintroductorycontributionsto the Reference Guide toRussian Literature (London, I998), also edited by Neil Cornwell (see the review in SEER, 77, 1999, PP. 3I6- I7). Of these essays,those relatingto the modern period have been updatedor extended, while othershave undergoneminor revisions.The other seven essayswere newly commissioned for this volume. In his review of the Reference Guide Marcus Wheeler wrote that it would be good if the editor were to 'consider the possibility of issuing these essays in a separate volume which would be within the financialgraspof studentsand younger teachers'. He has been taken at his word with the publication of this volume and there can be no doubt that students of Russian, of all ages and interests,will find much to stimulatetheir interesthere. With regardto the reprintedessaysone can only echo the originalreviewer'sopinion of theirconsistentlyhigh quality, with a numberof outstandingcontributions,includingparticularlythose from Richard Freeborn on the Russian novel, David M. Bethea on Pushkin and KaterinaClarkon socialistrealism. The high standardcontinues with the new essays, each of which makes an elegant and lively contribution to the volume as a whole. Cornwell's introductory piece provides an overview of the development of Russian literature from the earliest Kievan period to the present day, managing to cover a thousand years in a dozen pages but without making it seem like a breathless dash. Faith Wigzell discusses the impact of folklore on Russian literature over the centuries, identifying the various categories of the oral tradition and showing how it continues to this day as an enriching source of material for writers. This is followed by Ruth Coates's survey of religious writingin post-PetrineRussia, pointing to the peculiarnatureof such writing, located in a space that exists somewhere between theology and philosophy, but belonging strictly speaking to neither discipline. Russia's Golden and 7I6 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 Silver Ages are discussed and evaluated by Donald Rayfield and Michael Baskerrespectively, with the former being seen primarilyin terms of poetry (although Rayfield acknowledges that the Golden Age also marked the appearance of outstanding works of prose), and the latter more broadly, treatingthe term 'SilverAge' as overlappingwith the concept of modernism. In these essays, as elsewhere in this volume, the reader is made aware of the sense of continuity and resonantinterplayof themes and ideas that characterize Russian literature. Derek Offord focuses on nineteenth-century Russian thought, demonstrating how it is precisely the 'fluid boundary' between thought and imaginativefiction, as exemplifiedin the worksof such disparate authors as Turgenev and Dostoevskii, which lends the age its very special quality. Finally, G. S. Smith discusses the development of Russian poetry since 1945, contending that during this most recent period Russia has witnessed its third 'great flowering' of poetry, after the Golden and Silver Ages; once again, it has been the influence of the past which has been the dominant source of inspiration. The publishers'claimthat'Routledge Companionsaretheperfectreference guides, providing everything the student or general reader needs to know', and that 'in each book you'll find what you're looking for' is inappropriatein thiscase. As even a cursoryglance at the index will show, thisvolume does not provide a comprehensiveA-Z coverage of its subject.Cornwell'sprefacegives a more modest indication of what...