Reader’s Guide to Yuri Tynianov’s The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar

Through new readings of Yuri Tynianov’s 1928 novel, The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar, this edited volume examines the novel’s modernist poetics and application of innovative artistic techniques to historical facts to illuminate profound historical truths.A timeless classic of the late Russian modernism, Yuri Tynianov’s Death of Wazir-Mukhtar has been often overlooked by western scholarship, despite it resonating deeply with the situation of the Russian Formalists during the momentous “turning point” in Stalinist Russia. In addition to its modernist poetics, this collection critically assesses the novel's critical reception, contextualization, comparative interpretations, and practical application of the Russian Formalist theory of literature. Contributors examine this multi-layered work within the context of Tynianov’s seminal studies of verse language, his translating practices and engagement with the ground-breaking Soviet film production of the 1920s, as well as his critique of Russia’s colonial policies and imperialist wars in the Middle East. Tynianov’s towering transformative influence on the Russian historical novel is analyzed through his treatment of historical documents, whose fictionalization under his pen engendered deeper truths about the past.