Handbook of Russian Literature ed. by Victor Terras (review)

114Rocky Mountain Review VICTOR TERRAS, ed. Handbook of Russian Literature. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985. 558 p. The most extensive encyclopedia of Russian literature presently available is the Kratkaja literaturnaja encikkrpedija (Moscow, 1962-1975). Often marred by its heavily tendentious approach, this nine-volume work suffers in particular from a blinkered view of literature produced in emigration or opposition. Among English-language works, the multivolume Modern Encyclopedia ofRussian and Soviet Literature edited by Harry B. Weber (Gulf Breeze, Florida, 1977- ) affords hope of becoming an invaluable reference tool, but the majority of its volumes have yet to appear. Other, less ambitious dictionaries and encyclopedias are either narrower in scope, like Russkie pisateli. Biobibliograficeskij slovar', edited by D. S. Lixacev and others (Moscow, 1971), which ends with nineteenthcentury writers, or so compact as to be limited in their usefulness, like the Dictionary of Russian Literature by William E. Harkins (London, 1957), which is now greatly outdated as well. A detailed one-volume dictionary of Russian literature in English is thus a very welcome addition to the existing corpus of reference works, most especially to those who do not read Russian, but also to readers directly engaged in some sphere of Russian studies. The present volume admirably succeeds in providing a succinct, yet largely comprehensive guide to both pre and postrevolutionary Russian literature. Compiled by more than one hundred scholars, many of whom are noted specialists in the areas of their contributions, it represents a tremendous feat of scholarly cooperation. The entries in the Handbook are of several types. Treatments of individual authors, scholars, and critics span the entire spectrum of Russian literature, from the eleventh-century monk Nestor, author of some of Russia's earliest hagiographical compositions, to contemporary Soviet and émigré writers, like Andrej Bitov and Iosif Brodsky. The pre-revolutionary writers who are not discussed , the conservative poet Boris Almazov (1827-1876), for example, are such minor figures that they would be unlikely to be included in any such work. There are more questionable omissions among contemporary writers; for example , neither Sergej Dovlatov, a significant figure in the "third wave" of emigration , nor Boris Vaxtin, one of the authors represented in the well known Metropol anthology, receives any mention. In general, however, the selection is remarkably wide-ranging and, while twentieth-century writers sometimes appear to receive less space than they merit in comparison with their nineteenth-century predecessors, generally equitable. The listing of translations in the brief bibliography that follows each entry will certainly be of special value to the reader unfamiliar with Russian. In addition to treatments of individuals, the Handbook contains entries devoted to literary movements and terms, various aspects of versification, individual journals, societies, and other organizations, and a number of topics of a more general nature. Terminological entries include discussion of concepts particularly relevant to the Russian or Soviet literary context, Aesopian language, skaz, partijnost', and samizdat, for example. Equally welcome are entries on groups like the Petrashevsky Circle and Pereval (Mountain Pass or Divide) and journals like Moskvitjanin (The Muscovite) and Krasnaja nov' (Red Virgin Soil); precise characterization of these important cultural phenomena is often difficult to find. In addition, the Handbook contains thoughtful discussions of subjects as varied as the Thaw, English-Russian and American-Russian literary relations, Marxism in Russian literary theory and criticism, and the bibliogra- Book Reviews115 phy of Russian literature. There is also an article on émigré literature, and in general it should be noted that the Handbook is to be commended for giving much more attention to émigré writers than they often receive. The overall impression made by the Handbook of Russian Literature is extremely positive. While specialists will undoubtedly find much with which to disagree in the content of specific entries, the book unquestionably deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone with a serious interest in Russian literature. MARGARET ZIOLKOWSKI University of Texas at El Paso JAMES THOMPSON. Language in Wycherley's Plays. University, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1984. 151 p. Students of Wycherley and of Restoration comedy will welcome Thompson's book because it draws much-needed attention to this most perplexing and problematic of the Restoration playwrights. Yet it disappoints because...