Unlike most previous studies of literature and film, which tend to privilege particular authors, texts, or literary periods, David Gillespie and Marina Korneeva consider the multiple functions of filmed Russian literature as a cinematic subject in its own right—one reflecting the specific political and aesthetic priorities of different national and historical cinemas. In this first and only comprehensive study of cinema’s various engagements of Russian literature focusing on the large period 1895-2015, The History of Russian Literature on Film highlights the ways these adaptations emerged from and continue to shape the social, artistic, and commercial aspects of film history.
David Gillespie is Professor of Russian at the University of Bath, UK, where he has taught since 1985. Marina Korneeva is Associate Professor at Moscow City Pedagogical University, Russia.
List of ImagesPrefaceIntroduction: Russian Literature and FilmChapter One: The Early Years of Russian Film and Literary Adaptation, 1908-1919Chapter Two: Writers in ‘the Golden Age’ of Soviet Cinema, 1920-1929 Chapter Three: Socialist Realism and Classics for the Masses, 1930-1953 Chapter Four: Adaptation and the Thaw, 1953-1964 Chapter Five: The Long Nineteenth Century, 1964-1991 Chapter Six: The Twentieth Century in the ‘Stagnation,’ 1964-1991 Chapter Seven: A New Beginning? The Post-Soviet Period, 1991-2020 Chapter Eight: Foreign Adaptations of Russian Literature, 1909-2020 Conclusion: Transferring Word to ScreenFilmography Bibliography Index
The sheer number of films referenced in The History of Russian Literature on Film provides evidence both of the central role such adaptations have played in the history of Russian and Soviet cinema and of the volume’s ambition. This book follows the evolution of cinematic readings of the nineteenth-century classics, from Pushkin to Chekhov, and a large number of Soviet writers, providing a useful source of information for further research.