| The Novel in the Age of Disintegration: Dostoevsky and the Problem of Genre in the 1870s Contributor(s): Holland, Kate (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0810129264 ISBN-13: 9780810129269 Publisher: Northwestern University Press OUR PRICE: $44.55 Product Type: Hardcover Published: October 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Russian & Former Soviet Union |
| Dewey: 891.733 |
| LCCN: 2013011156 |
| Series: Studies in Russian Literature and Theory (Hardcover) |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 6.2" W x 9.3" (1.05 lbs) 266 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Russia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Scholars have long been fascinated by the creative struggles with genre manifested throughout Dostoevsky's career. In The Novel in the Age of Disintegration, Kate Holland brings historical context to bear, showing that Dostoevsky wanted to use the form of the novel as a means of depicting disintegration brought on by various crises in Russian society in the 1860s. This required him to reinvent the genre. At the same time he sought to infuse his novels with the capacity to inspire belief in social and spiritual reintegration, so he returned to some older conventions of a society that was already becoming outmoded. In thoughtful readings of Demons, The Adolescent, A Writer's Diary, and The Brothers Karamazov, Holland delineates Dostoevsky's struggle to adapt a genre to the reality of the present, with all its upheavals, while maintaining a utopian vision of Russia's future mission. |