An Anthology of Russian Literature from Earliest Writings to Modern Fiction: Introduction to a Culture

I really like this anthology. This book contains many of the greatest works in Russian literature, from the first stories to be recorded to modern literature. To have Pushkin, Gogol, Kharms, and Tsvetaeva in the same anthology provides a wide range of literary styles and ideas. Also, the translations are some of the best available, and Rzhevsky's analysis is very comprehensive.

This book provides an deeper insight into Russian literature and it's culture. Mr. Rzhevsky has done this by writing an introduction to each period in the history of Russian literature and showing us how all these works have resonated in Russian culture like music, theatre, cinema etc. So find out why Pushkin's 'Boris Godunov' and Mussorgsky's opera interpretation of it have had a great impact especially in times of moral instability and the collapse of values and historical insecurity of the Gorbachov era or why Nikolai Gogol was misunderstood by many of his readers. This was exactly the book I was looking for and it is an great introduction to an very interesting culture and its literature.

This book is an excellent compilation of some of the greatest writers Russia has ever produced. On these pages we find literature by Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenyev, Lermentov, Tolstoy, Blok, Babel, Kharms, Bulgakov and many others, as well as a few anonymous authors. There are stories, plays and poems in this anthology, giving the reader a fine selection of the rich variety of literature that Russia had contributed to the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in literature (especially, but not limited to Russian literature) and I believe the reader will appreciate this book's true creativity.