In the Russian modernist era, literature threw itself open to influences from other art forms, most particularly the visual arts. Collaborations among writers, artists, designers, and theater and film directors took place more intensively and productively than ever before or since. Yet this transcendence of the boundaries among art forms also gave rise to confrontation and creative tension. This collection of essays by leading British, American and Russian scholars draws on a rich variety of material to demonstrate the creative power and dynamism of Russian culture "on the boundaries."

Product Description: This book is a short history of Russia since the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. In a matter of months, Russia was apparently demoted from "evil empire" to despondent poor relation of the prosperous West. Yet the country also seemed extraordinarily -- and alarmingly -- open to all manner of political outcomes: from the return of Communism to the creation and consolidation of liberal democracy...read more

Of all of Soviet cultural myths, none was more resilient than the belief that the USSR had the world's greatest readers. This book explains how the 'Russian reading myth' took hold in the 1920s and 1930s, how it was supported by a monopolistic and homogenizing system of book production and distribution, and how it was challenged in the post-Stalin era; first, by the latent expansion and differentiation of the reading public, and then, more dramatically, by the economic and cultural changes of the 1990s. (view table of contents)