these writers attempt to write in a new vein, most continue their old themes, ideas and values. Chapter 4 ("The Intermediate Generation") is an in-depth examination of the former sorokaletnie writers who are still writing. Shneidman's evaluations are insightful and pointed. Chapter 5 ("The New Writers of Perestroika") brings young authors to our atten- tion. Shneidman divides these new writers into three categories: those who follow the traditions of conventional Russian realism; those who combine realism and modernist narrative techniques; and those who are classified as Russian post-modernists. This is the longest chapter of the work as many of the writers it covers are not well-known, or even known, outside of Russia. Shneidman discusses over twenty-five authors and their latest works, providing an accurate picture of this new literary generation. Shneidman concludes that this period is indeed a period of transition, as writers have emerged from a system where the state and party controlled the arts to total free- dom, and he expresses hope for the future of Russian literature, a "future [which] will be influenced, to a degree, by the outcome of the current changes in Russian society." Shneidman treats numerous works from 1988 to 1994; he gives brief summaries of these works and then presents his evaluation of each one. The reader is left with a muddled feeling about this period of Russian literature, but that is exactly his point. One cannot place this period into one convenient category; this transition from a sys- tem "where literature was once a state affair, [to one which] has become a private busi- ness is a difficult one, and one which is still evolving. Shneidman's latest work is similar to his earlier studies in that he has consulted reams of Russian literary criticism (from the current press) and shows his expert knowledge of contemporary Russian literature. His extensive selective bibliography, including Background Reading, Russian Prose Fiction 1988-1994, Russian Writers in English Translation and a list of new periodicals and almanacs, is especially useful. This work is a welcome addition to the discussion of Russian literature; as more and more Russian literature appears in the West (and is translated into English), the better will be our understanding of the difficult times the Russian people are enduring.

Arna Bronstein University of New Hampshire

Francis Conte. The Slavs. Boulder, CO: East Eumpean Monographs, 1995. vii, 179 pp. Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York.

Despite its rather vague title, filis book in fact examines "the ancient Slavic world its characteristics, its contacts internal and extenal [and I the influences which have shaped its evolution" (p. v). In other words it treats the origins and diffusion of the Slavs as well as their history and culture in the early middle ages. There is no question that we very much need a new, good book in English which covers these subjects. Many of the basic works such as Father Dvonik's The Slavs: Their Early History and Civilization, are now very much outdated. Unfortunately, Conte's book does not meet this need. Conte focuses upon three main topics: 1) the Slavic homeland and the migrations of the Slavs into Central Europe, the Balkans, aid European Russia; 2) Slavic society in the pre-Chnstian era: and, 3) Russian trade with the Islamic world. The treatment of each topic Is seriously flawed. The origins of the Slavs, for example, should logically begin the first section, entitled "The Original Slavic Territory." Instead, it is only dis- cussed briefly in fie section on early Slavic society. And, Conte's terse and superficial discussion fails to provide a clear, critical analysis of the current debate over this cru- cial issue. The auflor is correct in arguing that trade played a major role in early Slavic history. Nevertheless, his analysis of this trade in the third section is a disaster. He be- gins by examining loan words in order to demonstrate the great economic interaction between the early Slavs and their neighbors. This then leads to a consideration of the knowledge of foreign languages by early Slavic princes which is followed. in turn, by an enumeration of the children of the early Slavic princes who married foreign rulers. The fact that Anne, the daughter of Grand Prince laroslav of Kiev, was literate while her French husband, Henry I, was illiterate presumably provides some deep insight into Rus' commerce with Western Europe. When Conte finally returns to trade after this rambling discourse, his analysis leaves much to be desired. The discussion of how and why Russian trade with the Islamic world began as well as its evolution and con- sequences is incomplete and unsatisfactory. Regrettably, there are a host of other deficiencies. While the volume purportedly deals with all the Slavs, Conte almost completeh ignores the Western and Southern Slavs in his section on early Slavic society. Controversial issues like the Normanist theory are treated in a highly confusing way as Conte tries to appease both the Nor- manists and anti-Normanists. A number of statements are just plain misleading. We are are told, for instance (p. 149), that the Salkvo culture "is representative of a well-estab- lished nomadic society...." In fact, the Saltovo culture is noteworth for its well devel- oped agriculture, viticulture, and handicraft production, hardly attributes of a predom- inantly nomadic economy. Conte also passes off theory as fact, e.g., page 79 where Rurik of Jutland is equated with Rurik of Novgorod without any warning that this is a highly disputed hypothesis. The author seems to assume that there have been no ba- sic changes in Slavic society over the past millennium. The most egregious example is probably his suggestion (p. 89) that a 1964 novel by a Soviet author relating what a Siberian father told his son about choosing a wife provides insights into the "robust Slavic countrywoman" of a millennium earlier. Elsewhere, there are numerous refer- ences to the seventeenth-century traveler Beauplan and a host of French authors of the nineteenth and twentieth century to buttress Conte's arguments about the sixth to tenth centuries. The author also has a penchant for metaphysical musings on the Slavic/Russian character e.g., (p. 72 ) "national feeling and Messianism are characteris- tics of the Slavic nations' mental structure." It is quite evident flat the author has not uti- lized the voluminous literature that has appeared since the early 1980s. These omis- sions mav have been understandable in the onginal 1986 French edition, but an ad- denda for the English translation was more than appropriate. If Conte can wax elo- quent on events in the former Soviet Union since 1989 in the "Conclusion," he can certainly update his scholarship for readers who are serious about the early medieval Slavs. But such a beneficial addition would clearly be out of place in a work that has no