The Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism ─ An Introductory Reader

Ioffe (arts and philosophy, Ghent U., Belgium) and White (humanities and social science, Utah Valley U., US) present a collection of selections from, and analytical essays on, Russian avant-garde literature, film, theater and other art. Works are arranged chronologically and thematically, starting with Russian futurism in the early 20th century, suprematism and constructivism in the 1920s, the OBERIU artist-collective of the 1920s and '30s, experimental theater in the 1930s, and the work of Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov. Reading selections predominate in the first two sections, while later chapters have original essays. Ioffe provides a concluding addendum that reviews the tradition of experimentation in Russian culture and the Russian avant-garde. The contributors are professors of Slavic language and cultures, art of various forms, and European and United States history. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Frederick White holds a PhD from the University of Southern California. Presently, he is the Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah Valley University. He is one of the leading specialists on the Russian writer Leonid Andreev and has published in the areas of Russian Modernism, psychology and literature, pseudoscience in the Russian fin de siecle and the economics of culture.