Virginia Woolf and the Russian Point of View [Paperback]

This book brings together Virginia Woolf's essays and book reviews on Russian literature; her unpublished reading notes on Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and Turgenev; and new and insightful scholarly commentary concerning her response to each of the major Russian writers.Introduction:?Russophilia PART I: DOSTOEVSKY - 'THE DIM AND POPULOUS UNDERWORLD' The Possessed - holograph reading notes (1928) On The Possessed , from 'The Psychologists,' in 'Phases of Fiction' - Holograph Draft (1928) PART II: CHEKHOV - 'AN ASTONISHING SENSE OF FREEDOM' 'Tchekhov on Pope' - Holograph Draft (1925) 'Tchekhov on Pope' - Typescript 'The Rape of the Lock' - Holograph Reading Notes (1925) PART III: TOLSTOY - 'GENIUS IN THE RAW' Anna Karenina I - Holograph Reading Notes (1909-1914?) Anna Karenina II - Holograph Reading Notes War and Peace - Holograph Reading Notes (1928-1929) PART IV: TURGENEV - 'A PASSION FOR ART' Turgenev's Fiction - Holograph Reading Notes (1933) Conclusion - 'everything is the proper stuff of fiction'

Rare are the scholarly studies that combine timeliness, impressive originality, and acutely precise and detailed analysis with a gently reassuring sense that we are not so much engaged in 'criticism' as being invited to read over a writer's shoulder and catch the very passions and wonder that they might have felt as they read. What a delight then to come at last upon Roberta Rubenstein's Virginia Woolf and the Russian Point of View. - Woolf Studies Annual

Rubenstein's readings and the discussions are never other than subtle, perceptive, and persuasive. - Virginia Woolf Bulletin

A scrupulous and illuminating exploration of Virginia Woolf's long and deep engagement with early-twentieth-century 'Russophilia,' Rubenstein's new study examines the impact of such major figures as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Turgenev on both Woolf's critical theory and her aesthetic practice. The book will be welcomed not only by Woolf scl³¶