Harsha Ram is associate professor of Slavic languages and literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

An original and persuasive illumination of the history of Russian poetry. - William Mills Todd III, Harvard University ""An excellent knowledge of specifically Russian and general European contexts, incisive textual analyses, and a very fine aesthetic sensibility make Ram's book an outstanding achievement."" - Boris Gasparov, Columbia University ""Given its broad perspective and eloquent argument, Ram's study of the confluent rise of the imperial sublime and the modern Russian poetic language should prove a vital resource for scholars of Russian history and poetics.... Ram breaks new ground in forging a synthesis of historical concern and poetic tradition. Essential."" - N. Tittler, Choice