The History of Russian Literature on Film - (History of World Literatures on Film) by Marina Korneeva & David Gillespie (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Unlike most previous studies of literature and film, which tend to privilege particular authors, texts, or literary periods, David Gillespie and Marina Korneeva consider the multiple functions of filmed Russian literature as a cinematic subject in its own right-one reflecting the specific political and aesthetic priorities of different national and historical cinemas. In this first and only comprehensive study of cinema's various engagements of Russian literature focusing on the large period 1895-2015, The History of Russian Literature on Film highlights the ways these adaptations emerged from and continue to shape the social, artistic, and commercial aspects of film history.

Review Quotes

"The sheer number of films referenced in The History of Russian Literature on Film provides evidence both of the central role such adaptations have played in the history of Russian and Soviet cinema and of the volume's ambition. This book follows the evolution of cinematic readings of the nineteenth-century classics, from Pushkin to Chekhov, and a large number of Soviet writers, providing a useful source of information for further research." --Julian Graffy, Professor Emeritus of Russian Literature and Film, University College London, UK

"This book is the first comprehensive exploration of the adaptation of Russian literature into film, offering a detailed survey of Russian films from 1908 to 2020, as well as a brief consideration of select foreign films. The History of Russian Literature on Film will be the point of departure for untold journeys that explore the transfer of the Russian written word to the visual vocabulary of film." --Frederick H. White, Professor of Russian and Integrated Studies, Utah Valley University, USA

"The History of Russian Literature on Film provides a highly readable and fully comprehensive overview of film adaptations of Russian literature from over a century of cinema, to the present day, in Russia, the former Soviet Union and beyond. It is the most in-depth and extensive account of its kind." --Jeremy Hicks, Professor of Russian Culture and Film, Queen Mary University of London, UK

About the Author

David Gillespie is Professor of Russian at the University of Bath, UK, where he has taught since 1985. His books include Iurii Trifonov: Unity through Time (1993), The Twentieth Century Russian Novel: An Introduction (1996), Early Soviet Cinema: Innovation, Ideology and Propaganda (2000), and Russian Cinema (2003).

Marina Korneeva is Associate Professor at Moscow City Pedagogical University, Russia, having gained her PhD from Tomsk State University, Russia, in 2018 and is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Along with David Gillespie and Svetlana Gural, she is the co-editor of the fourth edition of Terence Wade's A Comprehensive Russian Grammar, published in 2020.