Constructing Russian Culture in the Age of Revolution: 1881-1940

Constructing Russian Culture offers a pioneering new account of the relationship between literature and other cultural forms in Late Imperial Russia and Revolutionary Russia. The general consensus in Western study of Russia and the Soviet Union has been that understanding of 'historical background' is essential to the study of 'literature'. But this consensus has so far failed to produce sophisticated overviews of the culture as a whole; literary histories seldom venture outside a rigid canon of authors and literary groupings, and the account of 'historical background' sometimes amount to little more than a listing of certain predictable political and social factors that can be perceived to have 'influenced' (or impeded) literary developments. This book is an ambitious attempt to recontextualize Russian literature, and rethink the relations between literature and other cultural forms. The book examines a number of, in Bourdieu's term 'cultural fields' in late Imperial Russia: science and objectivity; national and personal identity; consumerism and commercial culture. There is also a 'keywords' introduction explaining the evolution of concepts of the self, the nation, and 'literariness' in Russian culture, and an 'Epilogue' outlining the further history of the central themes after 1917. Contributors include leading specialists in Russian literature, cultural history, and cultural theory from Britain, the USA, and Russia. Intended as a companion to Russian Cultural Studies: An Introduction (also OUP), this stimulating, original, and controversial book will be a vital resource for all those interested in Russian culture during 'the age of Revolution'.