Balancing acts: Contemporary stories

Literature & Fiction

Goscilo, Helena

Short Stories & Anthologies

Indiana University Press

"Keys to Happiness", published in 6 volumes between 1908 and 1913, was one of the most sensationally popular and influential Russian novels of the early twentieth century. Against a panorama of Russian society on the eve of World War I, "Keys" recounts the stormy life of Manya Yeltsova, a Russian 'new woman' who pursues her dreams and passions to fame and notoriety as a dancer a la Isadora Duncan and a free spirit who captivates, among others, a Jewish socialist tycoon and a reactionary Russian nobleman. At the time of its publication, the novel crossed the boundaries of both gender and class to define a new type of literature in Russian society. Keying on the themes of art, love, politics, and personal freedom, it combines high culture with the era's fascination with self-gratification and the pleasures of the flesh. This sparkling abridged translation by Beth Holmgren and Helena Goscilo makes Anastasia Verbitskaia's startling bestseller available in English for the first time. The translation presents approximately a quarter of the novel, concentrating on decisive stages in Manya's personal development. Narrative summaries by the translators bridge omissions in the text. Their informative introduction places the novel within its cultural, political, and social context and makes clear for today's readers its literary and historical importance.

Keys to Happiness : A Novel

Holmgren, Beth

Verbitskaya, Anastasya

Verbitskaia, Anastasya

United States

Indiana Univ. Pr

Balancing Acts

Laurel

Dehexing Sex: Russian Womanhood During and After Glasnost

Glasnost and the collapse of the Soviet Union revolutionized Russian society. What effects, however, did they have on the status, role, and image of women in Russian culture? Examining the past turbulent decade of transition to "democracy" and a market economy, Dehexing Sex traces the ways in which Russia's concept of womanhood both changed and remained the same, taking into account dominant ideologies and social philosophies, sociopolitical organizations, women's writings, literary criticism, film, and popular cultural forms such as pornography. The lively, engaging chapters of this book examine texts by contemporary women writers in the context of the political, social, economic, biological, psychological, and aesthetic transformations that helped define them. Goscilo reveals that the Russian cultural revolution has reshaped the female image in varied and often contradictory ways. While increased interaction with the West fostered gender awareness, it also introduced imported Western sexist practices--especially the exploitation of female bodies--formerly proscribed by a puritanical censorship. Popular magazines, newspapers, and television propagated the image of woman as mother, ornament, and sexual object, even as women's fiction conceived of womanhood in complex psychological terms that undermined the gender stereotypes which had ruled Soviet thinking for more than 70 years. With the aid of feminist and cultural theory, Dehexing Sex investigates the overt and internalized misogyny that combined with the genuinely liberalizing forces unleashed by Gorbachev's policy of glasnost and perestroika. It exposes Russia's repressive romance with womanhood as a metaphor for nationhood and explores Russian women's ironic recasting of national mythologies. "Impressive . . . an important contribution to Russian studies and to women's studies. The author is an outstanding scholar, an energetic and original thinker, and her writing sparkles with imagination and wit." --Stephanie Sandler, Amherst College Helena Goscilo is Associate Professor and Chair of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh.

History & Criticism

University of Michigan Press

Glasnost and the collapse of the Soviet Union revolutionized Russian society. What effects, however, did they have on the status, role, and image of women in Russian culture? Examining the past turbulent decade of transition to "democracy" and a market economy, Dehexing Sex traces the ways in which Russia's concept of womanhood both changed and remained the same, taking into account dominant ideologies and social philosophies, sociopolitical organizations, women's writings, literary criticism, film, and popular cultural forms such as pornography.The lively, engaging chapters of this book examine texts by contemporary women writers in the context of the political, social, economic, biological, psychological, and aesthetic transformations that helped define them. Goscilo reveals that the Russian cultural revolution has reshaped the female image in varied and often contradictory ways. While increased interaction with the West fostered gender awareness, it also introduced imported Western sexist practices--especially the exploitation of female bodies--formerly proscribed by a puritanical censorship. Popular magazines, newspapers, and television propagated the image of woman as mother, ornament, and sexual object, even as women's fiction conceived of womanhood in complex psychological terms that undermined the gender stereotypes which had ruled Soviet thinking for more than 70 years.With the aid of feminist and cultural theory, Dehexing Sex investigates the overt and internalized misogyny that combined with the genuinely liberalizing forces unleashed by Gorbachev's policy of glasnost and perestroika. It exposes Russia's repressive romance with womanhood as a metaphor for nationhood and explores Russian women's ironic recasting of national mythologies."Impressive . . . an important contribution to Russian studies and to women's studies. The author is an outstanding scholar, an energetic and original thinker, and her writing sparkles with imagination and wit." --Stephanie Sandler, Amherst CollegeHelena Goscilo is Associate Professor and Chair of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh.

"This collection provides a tantalizing glimpse of what the Soviet public wants to read now."
-- Publishers Weekly
"This unique collection encompasses stories published in the Soviet Union during the past three years -- the era of glasnost -- by 1O writers of the Russian literary renaissance....An illuminating one-of-a-kind volume."
-- Booklist
"The ten authors of this collection, with their experience, style, philosophy and powers of observation, belong to those who are bringing a second wind to these tumultuous times."
-- Vassily Aksyonov
"This is the best Russian prose of today, better than yesterday's and possibly tomorrow's."
-- Joseph Brodsky
This volume brings together the best writers (many of whom are making their debut in English) of the new Russian literary renaissance in the largest anthology available of works published during tire last three years in the Soviet Union.
The ten writers included here are stars of the current literary scene and their works have evoked both praise and controversy, often provoking charges of excessive naturalism and pessimism. These stories illuminate new worlds for both the Russian and Western reader, as previously forbidden material is explored in works of real literary merit. Included are biographical sketches and an extensive introduction examining the new trends in Russian literature under Gorbachev.
Works By:
Petrushevskaya, Iskander, Kuraev, Tolstaya, Makanin, Shmelyov, Popov, Genatulin, Erofeyev, &amp; Golovin

Glasnost an Anthology of Russian Literature Under Gorbachev

Contemporary

Vintage Books

This collection is a companion volume to Goscilo and Lindsey's highly praised Glasnost: An Anthology of Russian Literature under Gorbachev. Includes extensive introduction and notes.  Contents: Vitaly Moskalenko, "The Wild Beach"; Yury Trifonov, "A Short Stay in the Torture Chamber"; Leonid Shorokhov, "The Lifeguard"; Alexander Ivanchenko, "Safety Measures"; Natalia Sukhanova, "Delos"; Daniil Granin, "The Forbidden Chapter"; Vyacheslav Kondratiev, "At Freedom Station"; Lyudmila Ulitskaya, "Lucky"; Boris Yekimov, "The Chelyadins' Son-in-Law"; Vladimir Tendryakov, "Donna Anna"; Nikolai Shmelyov, "The Fur Coat"; Boris Pyetsukh, "The Ticket" and "The New Factory."

The Wild Beach & Other Stories (Ardis Russian Literature)

Lindsey, Byron

Glasnost

ARDIS

This is the largest and most comprehensive anthology available in English of the new Soviet prose which has flourished in the time of glasnost. The works translated here were published in during the last three years of the Soviet Union, and demonstrate the remarkable diversity of style and subject matter which this period of freedom has encouraged.  The ten authors, all very well-known to Soviet readers, cover a wide range of subject matter, from provincial tragedy, to family drama treated with a startling frankness, to avant garde satire, to a new kind of historical saga.  Contents: Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, "Our Crowd"; Fazil Iskander, "Old Hasan's Pipe"; Mikhail Kuraev, "Captain Dikshtein"; Tatyana Tolstaya, "Night"; Vladimir Makanin, "Left Behind"; Nikolai Shmelyov, "The Visit"; Valery Popov, "Dreams from the Top Berth"; Anatoly Genatulin, "Rough Weather"; Viktor Erofeyev, "The Parakeet" and "Anna's Body"; Alexander Golovin, "Anna Petrovna."

Glasnost: An Anthology of Russian Literature Under Gorbachev

The Wild Beach & Other Stories

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Books by Goscilo, Helena