Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Prologue: decadence or rebirth? The European fin de siècle and the Russian precursors; Part I. The art of the cell: 1. Transitional writers; 2. The new poetry in St Petersburg; 3. Russian Symbolism acquires a name; Part II. Collective Creation: 4. The foundation of Mir Iskusstva and the role of the visual and performing arts; 5. From Mir Iskusstva to Novyi Put; 6. Russian Symbolism comes of age; Part III. Gleams Of Paradise: 7. The turn of the century; 8. The Sophia-myth and the theme of apocalypse; Part IV. A Glittering Hell: 9. The Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 revolution; 10. The antithesis; Part V. Our Home From The Beginning: 11. 'From the real to the more real'; 12. Russian Symbolism and Russian literature; Epilogue; Notes; Chronology; Notes; Bibliography, Index.

Promotional Information

This is the first detailed history of the Russian Symbolist movement, which served as the seedbed of Existentialism and Modernism in Russia.

Reviews

'Avril Pyman's authoritative book, [is] admirably thorough, well informed and scrupulously researched'. The Times Literary Supplement