Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor of Russian Studies at Middlebury College. He is the author of The Literary Ballad in Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature and Dreams and the Unconscious in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction. Katz is also translator of many books, including The Five, Sanin, and What Is to Be Done? also from Cornell. Otto Boele teaches at the University of Groningen and is the author of The North in Russian Literature. Nicholas Luker teaches at the University of Nottingham and is the author of Aleksandr Grin: The Forgotten Visionary. Otto Boele teaches at the University of Groningen and is the author of The North in Russian Literature. Nicholas Luker teaches at the University of Nottingham and is the author of Aleksandr Grin: The Forgotten Visionary.

Boele's well-researched introduction goes far in explaining the novel's significance within its cultural context including Free Love Societies. He also suggests that Sanin should be interpreted as a modern addition to the line of strong individuals represented by Pechorin and Bazarov. Within this framework the novel takes on a broader significance than just that of pornography or outrageous literature.- Frederick H. White, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Slavic and East European Journal) Deemed pornographic when first published in Russia in 1908... this book drew inspiration from such figures as Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche.... Although tame by modern standards, Sanin's combination of sensualism and individualism outraged members of the Russian literary establishment, but appealed to younger readers eager for change.(Publishers Weekly) There's little doubt that Artsybashev's defiant iconoclasm... has genuine literary as well as historical importance. A significant work.(Kirkus Reviews) Russian pornography, Kornei Chukovskii once asserted, differs from pornography of the French or German variety by being so thoroughly permeated with ideas. In Artsybashev's Sanin, this 'pornography with ideas' is closely associated with—and openly espoused by—the novel's eponymous hero, a quiet, self-assured, serene, and enigmatic young man, who returns to his hometown after spending his formative years traveling extensively and experiencing native life in a way that shaped his character as very unconventional, individualistic, and original.... Michael Katz's lively, highly readable translation is accompanied by Otto Boele's very helpful Introduction, which places the novel in its historical (mainly sociocultural) contest, and by Nicholas Luker's quite insightful Afterword, which explores the philosophical ideas and literary qualities that inform Sanin.- Ronald LeBlanc, University of New Hampshire (The Russian Review) Though the novel may be alternately quaint and tendentious, its hero has enough mystery to engage modern readers of all levels who are interested in fin-de-siècle Russia.(Choice) With his masterful translation Michael R. Katz has revived an important novel—one that sent shock waves from one end of the Russian Empire to the other in 1907. Some Russian critics attacked it as immoral, others as a distortion of reality, and a few found some art in it.... The Cornell edition is a welcome revival of a good novel.- Rodney L. Patterson, State University of New York at Albany (Canadian Slavonic Papers)

Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor of Russian Studies at Middlebury College. He is the author of The Literary Ballad in Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature and Dreams and the Unconscious in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction. Katz is also translator of many books, including The Five, Sanin, and What Is to Be Done? also from Cornell. Otto Boele teaches at the University of Groningen and is the author of The North in Russian Literature. Nicholas Luker teaches at the University of Nottingham and is the author of Aleksandr Grin: The Forgotten Visionary. Otto Boele teaches at the University of Groningen and is the author of The North in Russian Literature. Nicholas Luker teaches at the University of Nottingham and is the author of Aleksandr Grin: The Forgotten Visionary.

Boele's well-researched introduction goes far in explaining the novel's significance within its cultural context including Free Love Societies. He also suggests that Sanin should be interpreted as a modern addition to the line of strong individuals represented by Pechorin and Bazarov. Within this framework the novel takes on a broader significance than just that of pornography or outrageous literature.- Frederick H. White, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Slavic and East European Journal) Deemed pornographic when first published in Russia in 1908... this book drew inspiration from such figures as Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche.... Although tame by modern standards, Sanin's combination of sensualism and individualism outraged members of the Russian literary establishment, but appealed to younger readers eager for change.(Publishers Weekly) There's little doubt that Artsybashev's defiant iconoclasm... has genuine literary as well as historical importance. A significant work.(Kirkus Reviews) Russian pornography, Kornei Chukovskii once asserted, differs from pornography of the French or German variety by being so thoroughly permeated with ideas. In Artsybashev's Sanin, this 'pornography with ideas' is closely associated with—and openly espoused by—the novel's eponymous hero, a quiet, self-assured, serene, and enigmatic young man, who returns to his hometown after spending his formative years traveling extensively and experiencing native life in a way that shaped his character as very unconventional, individualistic, and original.... Michael Katz's lively, highly readable translation is accompanied by Otto Boele's very helpful Introduction, which places the novel in its historical (mainly sociocultural) contest, and by Nicholas Luker's quite insightful Afterword, which explores the philosophical ideas and literary qualities that inform Sanin.- Ronald LeBlanc, University of New Hampshire (The Russian Review) Though the novel may be alternately quaint and tendentious, its hero has enough mystery to engage modern readers of all levels who are interested in fin-de-siècle Russia.(Choice) With his masterful translation Michael R. Katz has revived an important novel—one that sent shock waves from one end of the Russian Empire to the other in 1907. Some Russian critics attacked it as immoral, others as a distortion of reality, and a few found some art in it.... The Cornell edition is a welcome revival of a good novel.- Rodney L. Patterson, State University of New York at Albany (Canadian Slavonic Papers)

Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor of Russian Studies at Middlebury College. He is the author of The Literary Ballad in Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature and Dreams and the Unconscious in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction. Katz is also translator of many books, including The Five, Sanin, and What Is to Be Done? also from Cornell. Otto Boele teaches at the University of Groningen and is the author of The North in Russian Literature. Nicholas Luker teaches at the University of Nottingham and is the author of Aleksandr Grin: The Forgotten Visionary. Otto Boele teaches at the University of Groningen and is the author of The North in Russian Literature. Nicholas Luker teaches at the University of Nottingham and is the author of Aleksandr Grin: The Forgotten Visionary.

Boele's well-researched introduction goes far in explaining the novel's significance within its cultural context including Free Love Societies. He also suggests that Sanin should be interpreted as a modern addition to the line of strong individuals represented by Pechorin and Bazarov. Within this framework the novel takes on a broader significance than just that of pornography or outrageous literature.- Frederick H. White, Memorial University of Newfoundland (Slavic and East European Journal) Deemed pornographic when first published in Russia in 1908... this book drew inspiration from such figures as Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche.... Although tame by modern standards, Sanin's combination of sensualism and individualism outraged members of the Russian literary establishment, but appealed to younger readers eager for change.(Publishers Weekly) There's little doubt that Artsybashev's defiant iconoclasm... has genuine literary as well as historical importance. A significant work.(Kirkus Reviews) Russian pornography, Kornei Chukovskii once asserted, differs from pornography of the French or German variety by being so thoroughly permeated with ideas. In Artsybashev's Sanin, this 'pornography with ideas' is closely associated with—and openly espoused by—the novel's eponymous hero, a quiet, self-assured, serene, and enigmatic young man, who returns to his hometown after spending his formative years traveling extensively and experiencing native life in a way that shaped his character as very unconventional, individualistic, and original.... Michael Katz's lively, highly readable translation is accompanied by Otto Boele's very helpful Introduction, which places the novel in its historical (mainly sociocultural) contest, and by Nicholas Luker's quite insightful Afterword, which explores the philosophical ideas and literary qualities that inform Sanin.- Ronald LeBlanc, University of New Hampshire (The Russian Review) Though the novel may be alternately quaint and tendentious, its hero has enough mystery to engage modern readers of all levels who are interested in fin-de-siècle Russia.(Choice) With his masterful translation Michael R. Katz has revived an important novel—one that sent shock waves from one end of the Russian Empire to the other in 1907. Some Russian critics attacked it as immoral, others as a distortion of reality, and a few found some art in it.... The Cornell edition is a welcome revival of a good novel.- Rodney L. Patterson, State University of New York at Albany (Canadian Slavonic Papers)