Promotional Information

'This fascinating study of Russian spiritualism in the second half of the nineteenth century will alter the way we look at the Russian "Realist Period." Neither endorsing nor ridiculing these controversial parlor practices, Ilya Vinitsky demonstrates how they satisfied cultural needs that were compelling, real, and of passionate interest to the greatest writers. His impeccably researched book will be of great value to students of the nineteenth-century novel as well as to scholars of various disciplines studying the Russian late-imperial era.' -- Caryl Emerson, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University Vinitsky's welcome and well crafted study explores the non-realistic "underpinnings" of the Russian Age of realism... Definitely a valuable addition to our understanding of nineteenth-century Russian literature. -- Janet Tucker, Slavic & East European Journal, vol 54:02:10

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Abbreviations

Introduction: A New World – Modern Spiritualism in Russia, 1853–1870s

PART ONE TABLE TALKS: SEANCE AS CULTURAL METAPHOR
1 Seance as Test, or, Russian Writers at a Spiritualist Rendezvous
2 Russian Glubbdubdrib: The Shade of False Dimitry and Russian Historical Imagination in the Age of Realism
3 Dead Poets’ Society: Pushkin’s Shade in Russian Cultural Mythology of the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

PART TWO REALIST EXORCISM: SPIRITUALISM AND THE RUSSIAN LITERARY IMAGINATION OF THE 1860s TO 1880s
4 Flickering Hands: The Spiritualist Realism of Nikolai Vagner
5 The Middle World: The Realist Spiritualism of Saltykov-Shchedrin
6 The Underworld: Dostoevsky’s Ontological Realism
7 The (Dis)infection: Art and Hypnotism in Leo Tolstoy

Epilogue: The Spirit of Literature – Reflections on Leskov’s Artistic Spiritualism

Notes
Works Cited
Index

About the Author

Ilya Vinitsky is an assistant professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

'Vinitsky has skillfully integrated cultural phenomenon and shown how they touched upon the deep questions of faith, the soul and immorality that continued to reverberate among those segments of Russian society and writers, who refused to capitulate to the pressure of materialism. This book will be most welcome by those interested in Russian Realism, cultural studies, and Russian spiritualism.'
*George Mihaychuk, Canadian Slavonic Papers, vol 52:1-2:2010*