Table of ConTenTs Acknowledgments 12 Editor’s Preface 13 Section One Russian Culture before the October Revolution Introduction 16 Historical-Cultural Contexts Walter Sablinsky, 26 “Father Gapon and the St. Petersburg Massacre of 1905,” from The Road to Bloody Sunday Boris Savinkov, 31 "The Assassination of Grand Duke Sergei," from Memoirs of a Terrorist Modernist Views on Art in Essays and Manifestos, Criticism Valerii Briusov, 40 “Keys to the Mysteries” from The Russian Symbolists Viktor Zhirmunskii, 56 “Two Tendencies of Contemporary Lyric Poetry,” from The Silver Age of Russian Culture Viktor Shklovskii, 64 “Art as Technique” from Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays David Burliuk, Aleksandr Kruchenykh, Vladimir Maiakovskii, Viktor Khlebnikov, 82 “Slap in the Face of Public Taste,” from Words in Revolution: Russian Futurist Manifestoes 1912-1928 Aleksandr Kruchenykh, 85 “Declaration of Transrational Language,” from Words in Revolution, Russian Futurist Manifestoes 1912-1928 Richard Peace, 88 “The Cherry Orchard,” from Chekhov: A Study of the Four Major Plays Joan Delaney Grossman, 121 “’The Marble Bust’ and Briusov’s Vision of Art,” from Depictions: Slavic Studies in the Narrative and Visual Arts Vignettes Valerii Briusov, 132 “The Marble Bust: A Tramp’s Story,” from The Republic of the Southern Cross and other Stories Aleksandr Blok, 137 “The Stranger,” from Modern Russian Poetry Anna Akhmatova, 139 “When in a Suicidal Anguish,” from Modern Russian Poetry Nikolai Gumilev, 140 “The Lost Streetcar,” from Modern Russian Poetry Section Two From Civil War to Stalinism via NEP Introduction 143 Everyday Life: Reality and Dreams Marina Tsvetaeva, 155 “Attic Life,” from Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries, 1917-1922 Aleksandra Kollontai, 160 “Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth. Love as a Socio-psychological Factor,” from A Great Love: Selected Writings Andrei Siniavskii, 173 “The New Way of Life,” from Soviet Civilization: A Cultural History Evgenii Zamiatin, 180 “On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters,” from A Soviet Heretic: Essays by Yevgeny Zamyatin Literary Criticism Kathleen Lewis and Harry Weber, 187 “Zamyatin’s WE, the Proletarian Poets and Bogdanov’s Red Star,” from The Ardis Anthology of Russian Futurism Irene Masing-Delic, 206 “Bright Hopes and Dark Insights: Vision and Blindness as Cognition Tropes in Babel’s Red Cavalry,” from For SK, In Celebration of the Life and Career of Simon Karlinsky Diana L. Burgin, 223 “Bulgakov’s Early Tragedy of the Scientist-Creator: An Interpretation of The Heart of a Dog,” from Slavic and East European Journal Victor Erlich, 241 “The Masks of Mikhail Zoshchenko,” from Literature, Culture, and Society in the Modern Age, in Honor of Joseph Frank, Part II Nils Åke Nilsson, 256 “Through the Wrong End of Binoculars: An Introduction to Iurii Olesha,” from Scando-Slavica Edward J. Brown, 280 “Two Plays,” from Mayakovsky. A Poet in the Revolution Vignettes Osip Mandel’shtam, 289 “Brothers, Let’s Glorify the Twilight of Freedom,” from Modern Russian Poetry Mikhail Zoshchenko, 290 “A Dogged Sense of Smell,” from The Galosh and Other Stories Mikhail Zoshchenko, 293 “Nervous People” from The Galosh and Other Stories Vladimir Maiakovskii, 296 “Brooklyn Bridge,” from Modern Russian Poetry Section Three The Stalinist Period and World War II Introduction 302 Memoirs Iurii Olesha, 320 “1930: How Meierkhol’d Put on My Play,” from A Book of Farewell Ivanov-Razumnik, 323 from The Memoirs of Ivanov-Razumnik Antonina Pirozhkova, 329 from At His Side: The Last Years of Isaac Babel Cultural Contexts Andrei Siniavskii, 340 “The Mystery and the Magic of Stalin’s Power,” from Soviet Civilization: A Cultural History Daniel E. Collins, 348 “The Tower of Babel Undone in a Soviet Pentecost: A Linguistic Myth of the First Five-Year Plan,” from Slavic and East European Journal Alexander Poznansky, 357 “Tchaikovsky as Communist Icon,” from For SK, In Celebration of the Life and Career of Simon Karlinsky Beth Holmgren, 367 “Power Relationships and Authorship,” from Women’s Works in Stalin’s Time, On Lidiia Chukovskaia and Nadezhda Mandelstam Leona Toker, 393 “Soviet Labor Camps: A Brief History,” from Return from the Archipelago: Narratives of Gulag Survivors Socialist Realism Maksim Gor'kii, 407 “Soviet Literature: Address Delivered to the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, August 17, 1934,” from Maxim Gorky on Literature Katerina Clark, 419 “Socialist Realism in Soviet Literature,” from The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature Boris Groys, 433 “The Typology of the Nonexistent,” from The Total Art of Stalinism War Diary Vasilii Grossman, 440 Excerpts from A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army, 1941-1945 Vignettes Osip Mandel’shtam, 448 “We Exist in a Country Grown Unreal and Strange,” from Modern Russian Poetry Georgii Ivanov, 449 “Russia, Our Happiness. Russia, Our Light,” from Modern Russian Poetry Marina Tsvetaeva, 450 “This Thing Called Homesickness! A Fable,” from Modern Russian Poetry Vladimir Nabokov, 452 “No Matter How the Soviet Tinsel Glitters,” from Modern Russian Poetry Vasilii Lebedev-Kumach, 453 “Song About Our Motherland,” from Modern Russian Poetry Mikhail Isakovskii, 455 “A Word to Comrade Stalin,” from Modern Russian Poetry Epilogue After WWII and after Stalin Comments on the Epilogue Selections 457 A Denunciation Andrei Zhdanov, 460 “The Central Committee Resolution on the Journals Zvezda and Leningrad,” from The Central Committee Resolution and Zhdanov’s Speech on the Journals Zvezda and Leningrad Memoir Evgenii Evtushenko, 466 from Yevtushenko’s Reader: The Spirit of Elbe; A Precocious Autobiography; Poems.