Anthology of Russian Literature from the Earliest Period to the Present Time

Leo Wiener's Anthology of Russian Literature offers a sweeping portrait of nineteenth-century Russian writing, from its first uncertain steps toward a national voice to the great realist masters who defined its later power. Framed by a broad historical argument, the selections show Russian literature as a series of brilliant, uneven eruptions—brief ages of intense creativity followed by silence, reaction, and renewal. The anthology traces the shift from French, German, and classical imitation in the work of Shishkóv, Karamzín, Bátyushkov, Gnyédich, Zhukóvski, and Krylóv to the Romantic, satiric, and socially engaged prose of Gógol, Byelínski, Dobrolyúbov, Turgénev, Goncharóv, Dostoévski, Tolstóy, and Chékhov. It also reflects on the forces behind this literature: a narrow educated elite, the rise of new intellectual classes, political unrest, and a national life in which writers became the chief voices of public debate. Alongside criticism and history, the volume includes memorable literary passages, from Iván the Terrible's haunted confession to the comic, dreamlike world of Oblomov, revealing a tradition shaped by beauty, protest, and the struggle for Russian identity. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.