Andrei Bitov (Paperback)

This is the first book-length study of Andrei Bitov, one of contemporary Russia's most original writers. It plots his evolution from the post-Stalin years to his mature masterpieces of the glasnost era and assesses his place in the Russian and international literary tradition. Ellen Chances explores his themes, from the psychological effects of Stalin on Soviet society to universal questions such as the human being's relationship with nature, history and culture, and describes how his writings go beyond modernist and postmodernist fragmentation in search of the wholeness of life.

"A brilliant analysis of one of the most difficult contemporary Russian writers, one about whom many Soviet literary critics have gnashed their teeth. Ellen Chances' work is distinguished by a spirit of independence and by a genuine depth--qualities that link her writing with that of Bitov himself." Natalia Ivanova, Znamia

"Andrei Bitov: The Ecology of Inspiration presents in a refreshingly distinctive style a cogent, often ingenious analysis of the oeuvre of one of the major living Russian authors...an excellent and thought-provoking introduction to an important body of contemporary writings." Catherine S. Nepomnyashchy, Slavic Review

"...a well-documented study of the writer from his early essays in the 1950s to his stories from the late 1980s....Andrei Bitov: The Ecology of Inspiration is a valuable resource for anyone who teaches or contemplates doing research on this author, and tells us much about how one idiosyncratic--yet hardly isolated--author moved through the years between the early thaw of 1956 and the full 'spring' of 1985. It is not the last word on Bitov--who is still writing--but it is an attentive, informed, and affectionate reading of an important living author." Kathleen Parthé, Slavic and East European Journal