“A highly original feature of this study is its critical discussion of Mikhail Bakhtin’s reading of Dostoevskii.[…] This lucidly written and well-structured book will greatly appeal to academic specialists in literature, culture and linguistics.” - A.Y. Arkatova, in: The Slavonic and East European Review 92.4, pp. 743-744 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.92.4.0743]“Khapaeva’s analyses are insightful and often startlingly fresh—most strikingly in their compelling demonstration that the nightmare, taken quite literally, was an important structuring metaphor for many classics of Russian literature.” - Kevin Platt, University of Pennsylvania, President of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic Languages“In this book, an eminent sociologist turns her eye inward, to the intersection of lived experience, creative fiction, and horror. How does a nightmare differ from a dream? … With the help of precise argumentation, Khapaeva shows us how Bakhtin, faced with a nightmare scenario, can often mislead us with his faith in "consciousness" and "construct.” She restores to the nightmare its horror, and to the writer his fullness of vision.” - Caryl Emerson, Princeton University"Dina Khapaeva has contributed much to our understanding of these writers, especially Gogol, and Dostoevsky. The long section on the latter can be seen as the centerpiece of the book: her treatment of “The Double”, in particular, should inform Dostoevskian scholarship from now on; her scathing critique of Bakhtin, too, is bracing, and will invite debate." - Ray Miller, Bowdoin College, in: Russian Journal of Communication, Vol. 4, Nos. 3/4, p.382