Russian women's writing is now attracting enormous interest both in the West and in Russia itself. This is the first one-volume history of the subject to appear in any language in modern times. Written from a bold feminist perspective, the book combines a broad historical survey with close textual analysis. Sections on women's writing in the periods 1820-1880, 1881-1917, 1917-1954, and 1953-1992 are followed by essays on individual writers. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including rare literary journals and almanacs, Catriona Kelly's account shows familiar figures such as Akhmatova, Tsevtaeva, and Tolstaya in a radical new context and brings to light a colorful gallery of fascinating but neglected writers including Elena Gan, Nadezhda Teffi, Natalya Baranskaya, and Nina Sadur. The text is supported by generous quotations from the Russian, all accompanied by English translations.

• Introduction: Not Written by a Lady


• A Note on Transliteration and Conventions


• 1. The Feminine Pen and the Imagination of National Tradition, 1820-1880: Mariya Zhukova; Karolina Pavolva; Elena Gan


• 2. Configurations of Authority: Feminism, Modernism, and Mass Culture 1881-1917: Olga Shapir; Nadezhda Teffi; Anna


• Akhmatova


• 3. Class War and the Home Front: From the Revolution to the Death of Stalin, 1917-1953: Sofiya Parnok; Marina Tsvetaeva;


• Vera Bullich


• 4. Who Wants to be a Man: De-Stalinizing Gender, 1954-1992: Natalya Baranskaya; Elena Shvarts; Olga Sedakova; Nina


• Sadur


• Bibliography


• Index of Russian Women Writers Cited; Main Index