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

"This anthology of tales and stories, poems, songs, and excerpts from novels and plays offers an introduction to Russian literature from the Igor Tale to twentieth-century works. It weaves these texts into the rich tapestry of Russian culture. the individual readings - most in fresh translations - were chosen for their cultural resonances. Each group of readings is introduced in an illustrated essay evoking the times in which the authors lived, the themes that engaged them, and the representations of those same themes in other media - in Rublev's icons, Mousorgsky's operas, Meyerhold's theater, Prokofiev's symphonies, Fokine's choreography, or Kandinsky's paintings."--BOOK JACKET.