Written from a feminist perspective, this book combines a broad historical survey with close textual analysis. Sections on women's writing are followed by essays on individual writers. Using a range of sources, this account features figures such as Akhmatova, Tsevtaeva, and more neglected writers.

INTRODUCTION: NOT WRITTEN BY A LADY ; A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND CONVENTIONS ; 1. THE FEMININE PEN AND THE IMAGINATION OF NATIONAL TRADITION, 1820-1880: MARIYA ZHUKOVA; KAROLINA PAVOLVA; ELENA GAN ; 2. CONFIGURATIONS OF AUTHORITY: FEMINISM, MODERNISM, AND MASS CULTURE 1881-1917: OLGA SHAPIR; NADEZHDA TEFFI; ANNA ; AKHMATOVA ; 3. CLASS WAR AND THE HOME FRONT: FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE DEATH OF STALIN, 1917-1953: SOFIYA PARNOK; MARINA TSVETAEVA; ; VERA BULLICH ; 4. WHO WANTS TO BE A MAN: DE-STALINIZING GENDER, 1954-1992: NATALYA BARANSKAYA; ELENA SHVARTS; OLGA SEDAKOVA; NINA ; SADUR ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX OF RUSSIAN WOMEN WRITERS CITED; MAIN INDEX

an impressive piece of scholarship. The author's use of text and context as the framework by which to illuminate women's writing is both intriguing and generally effective. - Susan M. Vorderer Harvard Ukrainian Studies 18 (3/4)

The first history of Russian women's writing. Moves from the nineteenth century right up to the present day. Throws new light on familiar figures such as Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, and also uncovers a plethora of neglected writers. All quotations appears both in Russian and in English translation. Growing interest, especially in the USA, in Russian women's writing. Will be complemented by Kelly's Anthology of Russian Women's Writing, published April 1994. Reviews of the hardback: 'Kelly's History will do for Russian literature what Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's Norton Anthology of Writings by Women did for American and British women writers a decade ago. Much more than an informative summary, Kelly's book addresses some important debates. ... her purpose is accomplished, and the book is an excellently organized and readable chronology with enough attention paid to details to set the readers curiosity and the critics arguments going. ... It deserves to become a classic. Signs 'Catriona Kelly's A History of Russian Women's Writing 1820-1992 stands out as the first large-scale study to combine a historians attention to continuities with a feminists eye for discontinuities and dissenting voices, resulting in a context-bound feminist criticism. ... Much of the material has not been previously translated into English ... Nor have many of the texts received much attention in Russia itself. ... Both the Anthology and the History explicitly foreclose the temptation to hail them as definitive reference works, but there is no doubt that both are landmark texts which will act as the touchstones of much future research.' Slavonica 'a magnificent and massive pioneering achievement. Both the history and the accompanying anthology are the product of wide-ranging, original research over several years; and the spoils she has brought back from her toils amply justify them. She remarks in her conclusion that her history can make no claims to definitiveness; it offers none the less an authoritative guide and map to a terrain that is familiar to few.' Times Literary Supplement

The first history of Russian women's writing. Moves from the nineteenth century right up to the present day. Throws new light on familiar figures such as Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, and also uncovers a plethora of neglected writers. All quotations appears both in Russian and in English translation. Growing interest, especially in the USA, in Russian women's writing. Will be complemented by Kelly's Anthology of Russian Women's Writing, published April 1994. Reviews of the hardback: 'Kelly's History will do for Russian literature what Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's Norton Anthology of Writings by Women did for American and British women writers a decade ago. Much more than an informative summary, Kelly's book addresses some important debates. ... her purpose is accomplished, and the book is an excellently organized and readable chronology with enough attention paid to details to set the readers curiosity and the critics arguments going. ... It deserves to become a classic. Signs 'Catriona Kelly's A History of Russian Women's Writing 1820-1992 stands out as the first large-scale study to combine a historians attention to continuities with a feminists eye for discontinuities and dissenting voices, resulting in a context-bound feminist criticism. ... Much of the material has not been previously translated into English ... Nor have many of the texts received much attention in Russia itself. ... Both the Anthology and the History explicitly foreclose the temptation to hail them as definitive reference works, but there is no doubt that both are landmark texts which will act as the touchstones of much future research.' Slavonica 'a magnificent and massive pioneering achievement. Both the history and the accompanying anthology are the product of wide-ranging, original research over several years; and the spoils she has brought back from her toils amply justify them. She remarks in her conclusion that her history can make no claims to definitiveness; it offers none the less an authoritative guide and map to a terrain that is familiar to few.' Times Literary Supplement