Introduction by George Woodcock

In this work, Peter Kropotkin is propounding the thesis that, in Russia, literature occupies a inique position because it is the only way of reflecting the real currents of intellectual development and of underground political opinion. The consequence, he feels, has been that the best minds of the country have chosen the poem, the novel, the satire, or literary criticism as the medium for expressing their aspirations, their conceptions of national life, and their ideals.

Concentrating on content rather than on form, on intention rather than achievement, Russian Literature provides a fair and comprehensive introduction to Russian writing up to the end of the nineteenth century. Almost every poet and prose-writer of any significance is discussed – Pushkin, Lermontoff, Gogol, Turgueneff, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky – and every class of literature is included; criticism as well as novels, and political writings as well as poetry.



Table of Contents

Preface

The Pronunciation of Russian Names

An Introduction by George Woodcock

Chapter I: Introduction

Chapter II: Pushkin and Lermontoff

Chapter III: Gogol

Chapter IV: Turgueneff - Tolotsy

Chapter V: Gontcharoff – Dostoyevskiy – Nekrasoff

Chapter VI: The Drama

Chapter VII: The Folk Novelists

Chapter VIII: Political Literature – Satire – Art Criticism – Later Period Novelists

Bibliographical Notes

Appendices



Index

1991: 385 pages, index