This edited collection is the first critical collection on the author in English and it approaches the breadth and depth of Tynianov’s thought by focusing on his fiction, specifically his major, most cryptic and experimental novel The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar (1928). Deeply rooted in and showcasing the practical application of Formalist theory, the novel is as significant for the history of literary theory as it is for Russian Modernism and it is a major missing link in the history of Formalist thought.Thematically, the topics in this volume are: the representation of Persia in Russian literature, the history of Russia’s military engagements in the Caucasus and Iran, Griboedov’s commercial plans in Transcaucasia, the fascinating and lethal Great Game – Russo-British diplomatic rivalries in the region and the web of diplomatic intrigue that led to the tragic end of the Russian embassy; the aftermath of the Decembrist uprising of 1825 and the fates of its survivors, and, of course, the elusive Russian author.
Anna Kurkina Rush is an independent scholar of literary studies and literary translator.
Introduction:Part One: Architectonics and Constructive principles.Chapter 1. DVM as an ‘investigative’ philological novel: Testing theory by creative writing. Darya KhitrovaChapter 2. Death as Device: Unmaking DVM. Basil LvoffChapter 3. Notes on Cinematic Techniques in DVM. Elena FrattoChapter 4. DVM as a Spy Novel. Anna AydinyanPart Two: Subtexts and Sources: Manipulation of SignificationChapter 5. DVM: Sources and subtexts. Georgy LevintonChapter 6. Griboedov’s letters as a factual source of Tynianov’s novel DVM and On the Spe-cific features of authorial narration in Tynianov’s historical fiction. Zinaida Poly-akPart Three: Intertext: Shaping Text against Another. Literary Interrelations.Chapter 7. Functions of the allusions to The Song of Igor’s Campaign in Tynianov’s DVM. Andrey RanchinChapter 8. “The Play’s the Thing”: Shakespearean Subtexts in Tynianov’s DVM. Anna RushChapter 9. Tynianov’s Method of Creative Writing and the Silver Age Legacy (Dmitrii Me-rezhkovsky). Oleg LekmanovChapter 10. Russian Futurist Poetry and Tynianov’s Metaphoricity (Mayakovsky). Dmitrii BykovChapter 11. Mandelstam’s Oral Statement about DVM and the Tynianov subtext of The Egyp-tian Stamp in Osip Mandelstam’s Poetics. ?mri Ronen Part Three: Formalist Myth-makingChapter 12. Mythological basis of Tynianiov’s DVM: the Myth of the Minotaur. Olga PleshkovaChapter 13. Ambivalent sympathizer: Griboedov’s Decembrism in Tynianov’s DVM. Mila TrigosChapter 14. Representation of Persia in Tynianov’s Fiction. Gennady IsaevChapter 15. Faddei Bulgarin and Griboedov (participation and exact title to be confirmed). Abram ReitblatAbout the ContributorsIndex