The Birth of the Body ― Russian Erotic Prose of the First Half of the Twentieth Century: A Reader

This concise reader/anthology of Russian and Soviet erotic prose written between 1900 and 1940 consists of three parts: Silver Age writings, interwar émigré literature, and early Soviet fiction. It was not the author’s intention to select the most accomplished works dedicated to the theme of sexuality and eroticism. Rather, the choice for the most part fell upon texts previously unavailable in English and thus less known to readers who do not read in Russian. In addition, these works give a good idea of how the “birth of the body” in Russian literature and culture actually happened and of the laborious, difficult nature of this birth.

Alexei Lalo, Ph.D. (2010) in Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin, is Research Administrator at the Melikian Center, Arizona State University. He has published on US and Russian literature, including Libertinage in Russian Culture and Literature (Brill, 2011).