Russian Letters Research Articles

Convolutional Neural Network Structure Transformations for Complexity Reduction and Speed Improvement

Two methods of convolution-complexity reduction, and therefore acceleration of convolutional neural network processing, are introduced. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are widely used in computer vision problems. In the first method, we propose to change the structure of the convolutional layer of the neural network into a separable one, which is more computationally simple. It is shown experimentally that the proposed structure makes it possible to achieve up to a 5.6-fold increase in the operating speed of the convolutional layer for 11 × 11-sized convolutional filters without loss in recognition accuracy. The second method uses 1 × 1 fusing convolutions to increase the number of convolution outputs along with decreasing the number of filters. It decreases the computational complexity of convolution and provides an experimental processing speed increase of 11% in the case of large convolutional filters. It is shown that both proposed methods preserve accuracy when tested with the recognition of Russian letters, CIFAR-10, and MNIST images.

Drews, Peter Heine und die Slaven. Die gesamtslavische Rezeption der Werke Heinrich Heines von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (review)

SEER, 95, 2, APRIL 2017 348 of which was habitually discarded by those who would want any discussion of Russia’s literary achievements to stem solely from Pushkin — then her book does not quite meet the challenge of its title. Almost no attention is paid to Peter’s reforms — such as moving the Russian capital to St Petersburg, stripping the Russian Orthodox church of its patriarch, the introduction of a new calendar, the Table of Ranks and initiating Enlightenment — all of which were understood as revolutionary well before 1750 and before Derzhavin was even born. Yet, except for Lomonosov, Golburt seems to ignore the work of such writers as Prokopovich, Kantemir, Trediakovskii and the early Sumarokov, which introduced the notion of the ‘epochal’ significance of Peter’s reforms, whilst Trediakovskii’s changes to the system of Russian prosody (with Lomonosov’s enhancements) were just as epochal for modern Russian literature as anything accomplished in that century. Finally, even if one were to argue that Catherine’s rule alone was ‘epochal’ and emblematic of the entire century, as another Mikeshin Monument to Catherine the Great of 1873 might lead us to believe, it must be conceded that Golburt does not express this idea especially strongly. Nor does she focus on the writers during Catherine’s reign, for example, Derzhavin’s contemporaries Fonvinzin and Radishchev, who with respect to the Petrine period would have viewed her reign as anti-epochal. Yet, having expressed my misgivings about the book’s title, let me again stress the strength of the book’s content and its nuanced readings of key texts. I would certainly recommend it to all my students and colleagues as one of the more impressive achievements of recent scholarship. Slavic Department, Brown University Alexander Levitsky Drews, Peter. Heine und die Slaven. Die gesamtslavische Rezeption der Werke Heinrich Heines von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Slavistische Beiträge, 492. Otto Sagner, Munich, Berlin and Washington, D.C., 2013. 377 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. CD-rom. €38.00 (paperback). When was the last time any one of us in this field had a chance to employ the word ‘Pan-Slavonic’ in any other context than ironic? In his Heine and the Slavs, Peter Drews has accomplished the seemingly impossible: his encyclopedic account of one ethno-linguistic group’s infatuation with a singer of strange songs from an alien land amounts to proof that the much-vaunted all-Slavonic unity may exist not only in the minds of idealists and enthusiasts. According to this fact-driven narrative, the unprecedented wave of Heine-worship that swept over Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century was far from REVIEWS 349 endemic. By amassing evidence not only from the literary history of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and the Czech Republic, but also from Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria, Drews proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that a Slavonic appreciation of Heine has always been and continues to be a peculiarly durable phenomenon. As far as the annals of Slavonic cultures are concerned, it may well be without parallel, as even Goethe (and Byron, I would add) cannot rival the popularity and influence Heine enjoyed to the east of the Danube ever since he befriended a Russian diplomat by the name of Fedor Tiutchev in Munich in 1828 (see p. 11). Viewed superficially, ‘Heine in Russia’ is hardly a new subject. Numerous book-length studies, countless articles, essays and bibliographic surveys have been devoted to the explication of Heine’s formative impact on and strong presence in Russian letters. What is remarkable about the Russian section of Drews’s survey is its freedom from both the timeworn clichés of Soviet literary approaches and post-Soviet idiosyncrasies, on the one hand, and his ability to synthesize the German and foreign analyses with those executed locally, on the other. Drews’s Russian chapter will introduce those interested in the subject to the evolution of Heine’s interpretation in that culture while stressing all its highpoints, from the mass absorption, imitation and parodying of the poet to the paramount individual cases of Russian involvement with Heine (for Drews’s introductions to Innokentii Annenskii and Aleksandr...

Happy Vergil Goes North: The Aeneid in Russian Letters

This essay addresses the reception of Vergil's Aeneid in Russian letters, specifically its optimistic point of view. Russian interest in Vergil is a belated one and complicated by the numerous European receptions, thus offering a peculiar rendition of the great Roman epic cast in imperial, spiritual, and deeply personal lights from the eighteenth century to the present day. Despite Vergil's relative lack of success in Russian translation, the importance of Vergil for the formation of Russian literary identity remained consistent as Russian writers participated in building their own national literary canon and drew from the Aeneid their hope and inspiration for nation building and national consciousness.

Этикетный речевой жанр «обращение» в зачине духовного письма (на материале текстов русских церковных писателей-монахов ХХ века)

The peculiarities of etiquette speech genre of “compellation” in the Russian spiritual letter are discussed. The relevance of the study is determined by the importance of studying the Church-religious style and written spiritual heritage of Russian Orthodox monasticism, by the interest to Russian speech etiquette and Russian epistolary traditions. The novelty of the study lies in the author’s reference to not previously studied texts of spiritual letters of the Russian Orthodox monks of the 20 th century, study of the interaction of language and religion, identification of the specifics of etiquette genres in religious style. The article focuses on the question of how the Hesychast idea of deification is embodied in the language of the genre of “compellation.” Also the attention is paid to the principles of theocentrism and christocentrism, determining the linguistic embodiment of the genre of “compellation.” With the help of illustrations it is shown that the specifics of the genre of “compellation” in the opening sentence of Russian spiritual letter is linked with the Christian worldview of the authors, adherence to ethical Hesychast doctrine. On the basis of involved linguistic material it is concluded that etiquette units which embody the idea of deification ( о Gospode , vo Gospode, vo Khriste, vo Khriste Iisuse, bogolyubivyy, bogolyubiveyshiy, rab Bozhiy ) become a stylistic marker. The analysis of complaints in the letters of clerical writers-monks from the point of view of their functions shows that, in addition to the usual functions of compellations, the texts of this genre realize the function of spiritual rapprochement of the author and the addressee.

Two Million Filing Cards: The Empirical-Biographical Method of Semen Vengerov

AbstractAt the approach of the 160th anniversary of the birth of Semen A. Vengerov (1855–1920), one wondered who would wish to mark the event. Born Jewish but a convert to Russian Orthodoxy, Vengerov taught Russian literature at the University of St. Petersburg, becoming best known as a bibliographer. In the 1880s he launched a gigantic project to document the past and present of Russian letters. However, what should have become a comprehensive Critical-Biographical Dictionary of Russian Writers and Scholars remained unfinished at his death, which was hastened by the Revolution. Having published prolifically, Vengerov nonetheless did not complete his life’s work. He did leave an archive containing about two million filing cards next to quantities of material he had collected, such as autobiographical essays by Russian writers. The judgment of posterity regarding the value of this dedicated compiling has been contradictory. For some of his critics, Vengerov’s colossal undertaking ended in deserved failure....

The Specificity of the Form and Diversity of Types of Russian Letters of the 17th Century

The article deals with peculiarities of the form of legal acts in XVII century. The author demonstrates how, by means of a form analysis, we can determine which type Russian letters belong to, consider their structure and sustainable legal formulas that reflect the substance of an act, establish the order, time and place of letters' creation.

Why Historical Linguists Need Children: Birch Bark Letters in Light of Written Language Acquisition

ABSTRACTEarly vernacular writings reveal intriguing similarities to texts produced by modern children. This study shows that these similarities result from the fact that both text varieties are the products of incipient writing. Examining medieval vernacular Russian correspondence and letters written by contemporary Russian children, this study (a) identifies the specific similarities between the two language varieties, (b) formulates a theoretical framework for interpreting these similarities, (c) applies measures of children’s writing competence to medieval vernacular writing, and (d) reevaluates the role of oral strategies in early vernacular writings. The study’s findings provide an important tool for investigations of incipient writing.

Birch Bark Letters Against the Background of Written Language Acquisition

Numerous similarities between medieval vernacular texts and those written by present-day incipient writers (children and adults alike) suggest that there are certain regularities underlying the processes of literacy acquisition and the evolution of written language in general. This paper is a comparative case study of medieval vernacular Russian correspondence and letters written by contemporary Russian children. The aims of this study include the following: (i) identifying the specific structural and non-structural aspects of the similarity between the mentioned language varieties; (ii) formulating a theoretical basis for interpreting data in developmental terms; (iii) defining the role of oral strategies in the evolution of written language; (iv) proposing that our knowledge of the processes of writing acquisition by modern children and adults, which are accessible to immediate observation and experimentation, can illuminate our understanding of the pragmatics of historical texts.

"...A Sob That Alters the Entire History of Russian Letters...": Cincinnatus's Plight, Tyutchev's "Last Love," and Nabokov's Metaphysics of Poetic Form

"...A Sob That Alters the Entire History of Russian Letters...": Cincinnatus's Plight, Tyutchev's "Last Love," and Nabokov's Metaphysics of Poetic Form

A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury: the life and times of Samuel Koteliansky

Samuel Koteliansky (1880-1955) fled the pogroms of Russia in 1911 and established himself as a friend of many of Britain's literati and intellectuals, who were fascinated by his homeland's more civilized side: the Ballets Russes, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov. Kot, as he was known, soon became an indispensable guide to Russian culture for England's leading writers, artists, and intellectuals, who in turn helped introduce British audiences to Russian works. A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury looks at the remarkable life and influence that an outsider had on the tightly knit circle of Britain's cultural elite. Among Koteliansky's friends were Katherine Mansfield, Leonard and Virginia Woolf - for whose Hogarth Press he translated many Russian classics - Mark Gertler, Lady Ottoline Morrell, H.G. Wells, and Dilys Powell. But it was his close and turbulent friendship with D.H. Lawrence, with whom he had copious correspondence, that proved to be Koteliansky's lasting legacy. In a lively and vibrant narrative, Galya Diment shows how, despite Kot's determination, he could never shake off the dark aspects of his past or overcome the streak of anti-Semitism that ran through British society and could be found in many of his famous literary friends. A stirring account of the early twentieth century, Jewish emigre life, and English and Russian letters, A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury casts new light - and shadows - on the giants of English modernism.

Anticipating Chekhov: Tragicomic Elements in Griboedov's Woe from Wit

[Woe from Wit] is considered a comedy. A number of scenes in it completely justify that style. But in this great play there is much of the author's bitter grief for his country and his people ... The great Russian classic dramatists showed their deep love for their people and their country by bringing out the tears which are hidden in laughter--a characteristic expressive of many Russian works of art. --Konstantin Stanislavsky [Why must actors try] to convince me at all costs that Chatsky, who spends much time talking to fools and who loves a foolish woman, is a very intelligent man ... --Anton Chekhov, A Dreary Story In its nearly 200-year history, scholarship on Griboedov's play Woe from Wit has been dominated by ideological readings. In the first few years of the play's circulation, it sparked debate between conservative critics and Decembrist-Romantic writers about its depiction of Moscow society. The progressive critics of the mid- to late nineteenth century, such as Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolai Dobroliubov, praised the work as one of the first sobering depictions of Russian reality, a tradition that, according to them, was continued by Pushkin and Gogol. Soviet critics would later canonize this reading of Woe from Wit in the twentieth century. The political reading has indeed been predominant--many critics have viewed the work as a Decembrist manifesto and its hero Chatsky as the most articulate spokesman of that movement. Even the Formalist Yuri Tynianov focused on the historical prototypes for the play's characters rather than its innovative formal aspects. Western scholarship about the play is relatively limited, but has included some re-evaluation of the play's characters and analyses of its meter and language. (1) However, the main feature of the play--its mixing of the tragic and comedic, or rather its status as a tragicomedy--has to my knowledge received little attention. This paper therefore provides a reading of Woe from Wit as a tragicomedy and, in doing so, shows how it anticipated many of Chekhov's dramatic techniques: an undermined raisonneur and concomitant authorial distancing, a domino effect of unrequited love, constant miscommunication and disconnect between all characters, and the incorporation of elements of commedia dell'arte. This reading opposes the view of Chekhov's dramaturgy as anomalous and unprecedented in Russian letters and instead suggests an evolution of the tragicomic genre, which had its earliest roots in Denis Fonvizin's The Minor, was developed further in Griboedov's Woe from Wit and Gogol's The Government Inspector, and culminated in Chekhov's plays. First let us consider the nature of tragicomedy, a genre that is difficult to define. Hazel Barnes attempts a definition using three dramatic situations. (2) The first of these occurs when there is an incongruity between subject and tone, that is, between a situation as it is normally judged and the attitude to it induced by the characters. The second tragicomic situation arises when there is a discrepancy between the attitudes of the characters and the spectators, not because of dramatic irony, but when the characters are fully aware of their circumstances. A common device used to create such situations is undercutting, as when a character makes a solemn declaration and then trips and falls over, as Trofimov does in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, or when one takes a bite out of a cucumber while musing on existential questions, as Sharlotta does in the same play. (3) The final tragicomic scenario involves an unrealistic closing up or denial of the gap between desire and reality ... a betrayal of the human condition. (4) To recognize these tragicomic scenarios in Woe from Wit, one need not look further than the play's conclusion. In this fraught denouement, Sofya discovers Molchalin's duplicity, Chatsky is declared insane by society, and all romantic intrigues collapse. Nevertheless the action is conveyed in lighthearted couplets and is accompanied by the jeers and laughter of the society characters. …

Building an Intelligent System to Distinguish Russian Printed Letters using Artificial Neural Networks

Building an Intelligent System to Distinguish Russian Printed Letters using Artificial Neural Networks

Levitt, Marcus C. Early Modern Russian Letters: Texts and Contexts (review)

Levitt, Marcus C. Early Modern Russian Letters: Texts and Contexts (review)

Ironic imperialism: how Russian patriots are reclaiming postmodernism

This essay analyzes the recent appearance in Russian letters of ultra-nationalist fantasies about the restoration of Russia’s imperial or totalitarian status. This new trend has its roots not only in the increasingly patriotic tone of Russian society and politics, but also in the dynamics of the literary field itself. ‘Imperialist writers’ such as Aleksandr Prokhanov and Pavel Krusanov have both revived and reacted against postmodern themes and motifs from earlier decades. Relying on the legacy of sots-art and stiob, the ‘imperialists’ advance a new model in Russia’s postmodern tradition, one that is balanced on the very borderline between irony and ideological militancy. In playing the game of ambiguous fanaticism, these writers have been able to attract the attention of a broad and diverse public, and have moved from an intellectual periphery into the cultural mainstream.

'John Cournos and the Politics of Russian Literature in The Criterion '

Resume: This article summarizes the early career of Kievborn writer John Cournos, with emphasis on his exposure to the October Revolution and his treatment of its politics and literature, culminating in a long series of reviews of Russian literary periodicals for T. S. Eliot's journal, The Criterion . The purpose of this article is briefly to outline Cournos' background, his entry into the London literary world, and to concentrate mainly on his neglected work in bringing Soviet literary debates to English-language readers in the 1920s and 1930s. The general purpose of this research is to assess the cultural impact of the Russian Revolution on Modernism, especially in the 1920s. Cournos' reviews forg The Criterion , informed by his commitment to Russian letters, show that a detailed account of Soviet literary culture was available to an Anglo-American literary audience. The present work was supported by a Fellowship funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this issue.Literature and Fine ArtsLevitt, Marcus C. Early Modern Russian Letters: Texts and Contexts.Chandler, Robert. Alexander Pushkin.Sobol, Valeria. Febris Erotica: Lovesickness in the Russian Literary Imagination.Boele, Otto. Erotic Nihilism in Late Imperial Russia: The Case of Mikhail Artsybashev'sO'Mahony, Mike. Sergei Eisenstein.Shapiro, Gavriel. The Sublime Artist's Studio: Nabokov and Painting.Vinokur, Val. The Trace of Judaism: Dostoevsky, Babel, Mandelstam, Levinas. Kandinsky. Exhibition Catalogue.Masing‐Delic, Irene. Exotic Moscow under Western Eyes.Firtich, Nikolai and Dan Ungurianu, eds. From Gogol to Victory over the Sun: Trajectories of the Russian Avant‐Garde: Collection of Essays.Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We.Mikkonen, Simo. Music and Power in the Soviet 1930s: A History of Composers' Bureaucracy.Connolly, Julian W. A Reader's Guide to Nabokov'sHilton, Alison and Yelena Lembersky. Felix Lembersky 1913–1970: Paintings and Drawings.Ryan, Karen L. Stalin in Russian Satire, 1917–1991.HistoryMurray, Alan V., ed. The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier.Schmähling, Angelika. Hort der Frömmigkeit, Ort der Verwahrung: Russische Frauenklöster im 16.‐18. Jahrhundert.Dippel, Stewart A. The Sacralization of the World in the Seventeenth Century: The Experience of Holiness in Everyday Life.Jensen, Claudia R. Musical Cultures in Seventeenth‐Century Russia.Rey, Marie‐Pierre. Alexandre Ier.Ulianova, Galina. Female Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth‐Century Russia.Andrews, James T. Red Cosmos: K. E. Tsiolkovskii, Grandfather of Soviet Rocketry.Kan, Sergei. Lev Shternberg: Anthropologist, Russian Socialist, Jewish Activist.Patenaude, Bertrand M. Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary.Graham, Loren and Jean‐Michel Kantor. Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity.Grant, Bruce. The Captive and the Gift: Cultural Histories of Sovereignty in Russia and the Caucasus.Engelstein, Laura. Slavophile Empire: Imperial Russia's Illiberal Path.Gentes, Andrew A., trans. Russia's Penal Colony in the Far East: A Translation of Vlas Doroshevich's “Sakhalin”.Sørbye, Yngvild, ed. Revolusjon, Kjaerlighet, Diplomati: Aleksandra Kollontaj og Norden.Rosenfeldt, Niels Erik. The “Special” World: Stalin's Power Apparatus and the Soviet System's Secret Structures of Communication.Moss, Kenneth B. Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution.Manley, Rebecca. To the Tashkent Station: Evacuation and Survival in the Soviet Union at War.Bergman, Jay. Meeting the Demands of Reason: The Life and Thought of Andrei Sakharov.Nikol'skaia, Tat'iana. Russkii protestantizm i gosudarstvennaia vlast' v 1905–1991 godakh.Ganson, Nicholas. The Soviet Famine of 1946–47 in Global and Historical Perspective.Dobson, Miriam. Khrushchev's Cold Summer: Gulag Returnees, Crime, and the Fate of Reform after Stalin.Karner, Stefan, and Barbara Stelzl‐Marx. Stalins Letzte Opfer: Verschleppte und erschossene Oesterreicher in Moskau, 1950–1953.Ilic, Melanie and Jeremy Smith, eds. Soviet State and Society under Nikita Khrushchev.Social Science, Contemporary Russia, and OtherJohnson, Janet Elise. Gender Violence in Russia: The Politics of Feminist Intervention.Shevchenko, Olga. Crisis and the Everyday in Postsocialist Moscow.Reuschmeyer, Marilyn and Sharon Wolchick, eds. Women in Power in Post Communist Parliaments.Wilson Rowe, Elana, ed. Russia and the North.Stepan, Alfred, ed. Democracies in Danger.Baschmakoff, Natalia and Mari Ristolainen, eds. The Dacha Kingdom: Summer Dwellers and Dwellings in the Baltic Area.Blom, Raimo, ed. Managers in Russia: Still So Different?Chaudet, Didier, et al. When Empire Meets Nationalism: Power Politics in the U.S. and Russia.Clunan, Anne L. The Social Construction of Russia's Resurgence: Aspirations, Identity, and Security Interests.

Early modern Russian letters: texts and contexts: selected essays by Marcus C. Levitt

Early modern Russian letters: texts and contexts: selected essays by Marcus C. Levitt

Some alphabets easily beat Russian letter count

Some alphabets easily beat Russian letter count

The Letter and Lithuanian Cyrillic Script: Two Language Planning Strategies in the Late Nineteenth Century

The use of Latin script for the Lithuanian language was banned during the period 1864–1904, during which time Cyrillic letters were introduced. Jonas Juška's (1867) and Eduardas Volteris’ (1887) efforts to modify the Russian Cyrillic alphabet for Lithuanian texts were most notable, with both Juška and Volteris adding new letters to and avoiding many traditional letters from the Russian alphabet. They modified the Russian Cyrillic alphabet to such an extent that a reader could even get confused if the Russian letters were read with some Latin insertions, or if Latin letters were read with certain Cyrillic elements. Their efforts were later partially accepted by others and many Lithuanian books in the Cyrillic script started to include the letter <j>, even though this letter was specifically criticized by Russian Orthodox priests. All models of the Cyrillic alphabet for Lithuanian were discontinued, however, after the ban on Latin letters was lifted.

My Petersburg/Myself: Mental Architecture and Imaginative Space in Modern Russian Letters by Anna Lisa s&gt; Crone Jennifer Day (review)

REVIEWS 337 This is a very detailed study of demonological references in Dostoevskii's works, but the focus is soft:just as Bakhtin sees thresholds everywhere and Freudianssee phallic symbols, so Leatherbarrowtends to see the demonic in everydayobjectsand acts. Given all this devilryit is a reliefat the end to learn of Dostoevskii'sown scepticism, when he writes: 'My whole problem is that there is no way I can bring myself to believe in devils myself' (p. I79). The opening chapter examines the role of the demonic in Dostoevskii's early writing, and each of the following chapters is devoted to one of the major novels in turn. In Crime andPunishment, Leatherbarrownotes that, in explainingthe murder to Sonia, Raskol'nikovsubstituteschert for d'iavolperhaps to show his unwillingness to allow conventional religiousovertones into discussionof his crime. Moreover, it is perhapsNapoleon as beshe has in mind, not Sonia's Orthodox d'iavol. In The Idiot the question of apocalypse looms large, and here Leatherbarrowhas some interestingobservationson names the symbolism of horses and birds,and he arguesthat the surnameof NastasiaFiippovna Barashkova(suggesting'lamb'),castsher both as whore (ofBabylon)and lamb (of Christ). The novel TheDevilsyieldsthe most obviousmaterialfor the theme, placing it in a political context. The demonic characteristicsof the arch 'devil' Petr Verkhovenskiiare likened to a puppet bearing the diminutiveof his name the Petrushkaof street theatre. In ne Brothers Karamazov the somewhat heretical ideas of Zosima are discussed and there is a fine analysis of how three sections of the monk's teaching have relevance for each of the brothers in turn, but it comes as a surprisethat after such exegesis Leatherbarrowshould assertthat this section 'The Russian Monk' 'never really belongs. It remains a cuckoo in the nest, a piece of artisticsleightof hand' (p. I76).Even more surprisingis his concluding statement:'In his attempts [...] to use the demonic form of the novel in the service of the Lord, it is perhaps Dostoevsky himselfwho emerges as the true "fatherof the lie" in the Brothers Karamazov' (p. I77).'The devil is in the detail'is an adage that could well be appliedto this study:it is a crowdedbook in a crowded field. Nevertheless, it does offer some real insights. Department ofRussianStudies RicHARD PEACE University ofBristol Crone, Anna Lisa and Day, Jennifer. My Petersburg/Mysel: MentalArchitecture andImaginative Spacein ModemRussianLetters. Slavica, Bloomington, IN, 2004. 385 pp. Notes. Indexes. $29.95 (paperback). IN his book, ThePracticeof Evegyday Life (Berkeley, CA, I984), Michel de Certeau demonstrateshow the tactical use of cultural forms enables individuals to elude and resist the power of social determination. The creation of various counter-hegemonic rituals and stylistic practices makes possible the articulationof a playful element in the deterministicsocial space. In My 338 SEER, 85, 2, 2007 Petersburg/Myself Anna Lisa Crone andJennifer Day explore, in terms similar to de Certeau, Petersburgwriters'identificationof their selfwith urban spaces and their poetic dialogueswith the Petersburgtradition.They discussRussian twentieth-centurypoets and writers,includingAndrey Belyi, Vassili Rozanov, Vladimir Nabokov, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandel'shtam and Joseph Brodsky,who were 'otheredinto or unto urban space' (p. 2). The book investigates the metapoetic function that 'entails the equation by poets of their artisticworks(poems)with Petersburgbuildingsand statues'(p. I7). Crone ancl Day's discussionof Mandel'shtam'svision of the Admiralty,BenedictLifshits's image of the Kazan' cathedral, and Alexander Blok's elegiac identifications with Petersburglandscapesare especiallyrewarding.It is surprisingnot to see any analysis of Andrei Bitov's short stories which stand close to the urban writing of Alexander Kushner and Brodsky. Crone and Day also do not engage with Maria Rubins's excellent comparative study Crossroad of Arts, Crossroad of Cultures: Ekphrasis InRussian andFrench Poet?y (New York, 2000) that discusses numerous examples of ekphrasis in Russian poetry. Both books explore the construction of self and the interplay between the Russian and European culturaltraditions. Crone's and Day's study comprises four chapters. The first chapter 'Towards a Theory of Identificationwith PetersburgSpace' brings together Fedor Dostoevskii, Akhmatova, Mandel'shtam, Vladimir Maiakovskii and Lifshits.Crone and Day offer close reading of various texts. They provocatively say that 'to present the besieged Petersburgand the Petersburgwriter as stable and indestructible,writers take the unexpected tack of resortingto urban Petersburgidyll and the closely related urban elegy...