The Cossack Hero in Russian Literature: A Study in Cultural Mythology (Studies of the Harriman Institute)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.27 (953 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0299135241 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 244 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-03-30 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"A difficult subject" according to Jeffrey Huntington. This excellent book is derived from a dissertation, a scholarly and relatively dispassionate search for the real Cossacks, as distinct from the mythical heroes and villains. Most of the book is concerned with the fictional Cossacks of romantic nineteenth-century Russian and Ukrainian authors. Unlike many dissertations, this book is well written and can easily be read by a non-specialist.
. Judith Deutsch Kornblatt is assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Cossack Hero in Russian Literature studies the development of the Cossack hero and identifies him as part of Russian cultural mythology. Judith Kornblatt explores the power of the myth as a literary image, providing new and challenging readings of 19th- and 20th-century works by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoi, Khlebnikov, Babel, Tsvetaeva, Sholokhov and a number of lesser-known writers, all of whom were attracted to the Cossack. By comparing the Cossack with the American cowboy, she reveals what is both unique and universal about the Russian self-image.
She devotes the greatest attention to Nikolai Gogol, whose Taras Bulba (1835-42) fixed the image of these frontier peoples in the "Russian cultural imagination," but she also explores the works of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Babel, Tsvetaeva, and other lesser-known authors. of Wisconsin-Madison) examines their use as mythic characters by prominent Russian writers. . This treatment of a neglected subject belongs in most academic collections of Russian literature, but adventurous public library patrons will find it a readable introduction to a fascina