Author Description

Russian women's writing is now attracting enormous interest both in the West and in Russia itself. This is the first one-volume history of the subject to appear in any language in modern times. Written from a feminist perspective, the book combines a broad historical survey with close textual analysis. Sections on women's writing in the periods 1820-1880, 1881-1917, 1917-1953, and 1953-1992 are followed by essays on individual writers. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including rare literary journals and almanacs, Catriona Kelly's account shows familiar figures such as Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, and Tolstaya in a radical new context and brings to light a colourful gallery of fascinating but neglected writers including Elena Gan, Olga Shapir, Nadezhda Teffi, Sofiya Parnok, and Nina Sadur. The text is supported with generous quotations from the Russian, all with English translations. Complemented by Dr Kelly's Anthology of Russian Women's Writing, 1777-1992 (also available from OUP), this is an indispensable source for readers and students of women's writing, and for all those concerned with women's history, the history of feminism, and Russian literature in general.