Russian literature 1945-1988

Description

Professor Kasack of the University of Cologne is, inter alia, the author and/or compiler of numerous publications on Russian literature. The present volume is a much expanded English version of his 1980 Die russische Literatur ¡945-1976 and its 1983 update Die russische Literatur 1945-1982. Like its predecessors, the current volume is an extremely concise, reliable survey. In part because of its conciseness, the reader is referred to the author's Dictionary of Russian Literature since 1917 (New York: Columbia U. P., 1988) for clarification of general terms (e.g., samizdat) or for further information and bibliography by and about particular authors. The book is divided into four chronologically-based chapters. The first ends with the death of Stalin; the second with the 1964 fall of Khrushchev; the third with the advent of Gorbachev; the last covers the post-1985 scene. The first three chapters are each introduced by a brief historico-political sketch followed by a survey of works devoted to the period's current themes, such as post-war reconstruction or the problem of coming to terms with the Stalinist past; then a survey of historical themes, such as the revolution or World War II. A final section in each chapter examinines works dealing with "human problems." The fourth and last chapter is more informally organized.