Russell Scott Valentino Libri

Exploring the evolution of virtue in Russian literature, Russell Scott Valentino examines how traditional masculine heroism, tied to property, was challenged by a new commercial ethic influenced by consensual fantasy. This study highlights the tension between self-interest and social value in the context of modern Russia's shifting economic landscape. Valentino addresses a fundamental question faced by Russian authors since the early 19th century: the integration of a self-interested commercial man into the fabric of Russian society as a respected masculine figure.

The 1860s witnessed one of the most vibrant periods in the history of modern Russian literature. This book focuses on what was arguably its most influential genre – the Russian tendentious novel. While tracing the genre’s early development through works such as Fathers and Sons and Notes from Underground, it simultaneously unfolds a unique approach to reading late-nineteenth-century Russian literature by showing how rich conflicting interpretations of the classics continue to be possible and by indicating numerous deep-rooted connections between the tendentious novels of the nineteenth century and their twentieth-century literary progeny.

To know a city is to become intimately intertwined with its nooks, crevices, secret passageways, and dark places where its lifeblood flows—and what city has more of those than Venice? In The Other Venice, Predrag Matvejevic ventures past the infamous canals and cobblestone streets of the tourist’s Venice to find the heart of the ancient Italian metropolis. A lyric re-imagining of the City of Romance, The Other Venice utterly reconfigures the Venetian landscape, as Matvejevic follows both real and imaginary maps, contemporary and historical, to trace out the details of this sensuous city. He probes into what the ancient metropolis means to its people, the nation, and global culture. But he also finds hints of life in the smallest and most mundane details—ancient bridges, rust-flecked boats, wall sculptures, rivers, and piazzas scattered throughout the city. Each has a little-known story and with Matvejevic as our guide, he reveals the stories behind them all. The book carries readers to a Venice that has escaped the eyes of writers, artists, and photographers through the centuries, and Matejevic by turns plays a historian, cartographer, anthropologist, and philologist as he unravels elusive artifacts of time past. A fascinating and beautifully written guide, The Other Venice reminds us that there is always another mystery to uncover in the city of water and stone.