English Literature and the Russian Aesthetic Renaissance

The turn of the nineteenth century, a time of exceptional creativity in Russia, was also a time of great receptivity to foreign cultural influences. Among the most important of these were English poetry and aesthetic thought, which gave new impetus to the Russian imagination. This is the first study of the Russian reception of English literature from Romanticism to aestheticism, focusing particularly on the reception by Russian poets of Shelley, Ruskin, Pater, Frazer and Wilde. Framing this account is a pioneering exploration of the intellectual background to these influences in comparative scholarship, illuminating a common interest in myth, folklore, anthropology, and the origins of language. This book discusses the relationship between Russian conceptions of national identity, literary influence and the origins of comparative literary history.

• The first full-length study of English literary influences on Russian literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries • Expert in both Russian and English literature discusses a wide range of Russian and English literary figures and texts • New insight into the importance of comparative literary study and its impact on cultural reception and influence

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Notes on the text; Introduction; 1. Museum people; Part I. The Barbaric Renaissance: 2. Rites of spring; 3. Balmont’s Shelley and the sacred books of the East; 4. Edgar Allan Poe and the magic of words; Part II. The Aesthetic Renaissance: 5. The renaissance of the renaissance; 6. English Aestheticism and Blok’s apocalypse; 7. How important it is to be serious: Oscar Wilde’s popularity; 8. Kuzmin’s English style; Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index.