American Writers in Russia: Some Notes on Reception
American Writers in Russia: Some Notes on Reception

Summary/Abstract: Reception of American literature in Russia for two hundred years has been conditioned by several factors: prevailing tastes and literary sensibilities, the development of literary critique, ideological dogmas, and the art of translation. Throughout its history the amount of freedom in Russia determined the number of publications and the choice of authors presented to the readership. Of particular interest is the impact of political and ideological factors on the introduction and propagation of American literature. The very fact of such dependence can be illustrated by the reception of several American authors in Russia, namely, Emerson and Thoreau, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph Brodsky. After a period of enormous popularity at the turn of the 20th century, the works of American Transcendentalists Ralph Emerson and Henry Thoreau were entirely forgotten, and their names disappeared from the literary scene. Religious and philosophic content of their […]

• Details
• Contents