From Symbolism to Socialist Realism

Irene Masing-Delic took her degrees at the Universities of Uppsala and Stockholm. Her career has included appointments at the Australian National University, the University of the Witwatersrand, Friedrich-Alexander University at Erlangen-Nuremberg and University of California at Berkeley. She is currently professor at the Ohio State University in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures. She has published Abolishing Death. A Twentieth-Century Salvation Myth and numerous articles on modernist and early Soviet writers.

"The first third of the twentieth century saw immense cultural, political and technological changes, and in Russia those processes played out in literature. In this unique reader, Masing-Delic collects in one volume invaluable English translations of key Russian texts, from manifestos of poetic and revolutionary positions to poems, songs, diary entries and excerpts from memoirs. With some of the best English-language critical articles on the period, the volume functions as a primer on late imperial and early Soviet culture. Cultural contexts include the emigre community in Europe after the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalinism, and World War II. Perfect for the classroom or for those who want to explore Russian literary culture on their own. Masing-Delic has done the profession and the general reader a great service with From Symbolism to Socialist Realism."