Examines the Russian literary circle, a feature of intellectual and cultural life from tsarist times into the early Soviet period, through the life story of one of its liveliest and most adored figures, the poet Maximilian Voloshin (1877-1932). While detailing a colorful history, the book demonstrates that the literary circle and its leaders played a key role in integrating the intelligentsia into the emerging ethos of the Soviet state.
Barbara Walker is Professor of Russian history at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has published on a broad range of historical topics in the area of Russian and Soviet intellectual life and its economic foundations, social organization and culture.
Table of Contents
Contents
List of illustrations Acknowledgments
An Introduction in Three Parts Chapter 1. Voloshin's Social and Cultural Origins Chapter 2. The Russian Symbolists and Their Circles Chapter 3. Voloshin and the Modernist Problem of the Ugly Poetess Chapter 4. The Koktebel' Dacha Circle Chapter 5. Insiders and Outsiders, Gossip and Mythology: From Communitas toward Network Node Chapter 6. Voloshin Carves Power out of Fear Chapter 7. Voloshin Carves Power, Cont'd, and the Broader Context and Implications of his Activities Chapter 8. Inside Voloshin's Soviet Circle (and Beyond): Persistence of Structure, Preservation of Anti-structure Chapter 9. Collapse of a Patronage Network and Voloshin's Death Conclusion
