Topic: Older Books on Russian Culture?

[Justin Kissel]

Has research/thought on Russian literature and cultural history changed much over the past several generations, or would books from earlier times still retain substantial scholarly merit/relevance? For examples of the type of books I'm asking about:

Isabel Hapgood - A Survey of Russian Literature (1902)
Maurice Baring - Landmarks in Russian Literature (1910)
Evar Spector - An introduction to Russian history and culture (1954)

[Shanghaiski]

From my study, Americans' perceptions of Russia have not changed much since the mid-19th century. The Cold War was simply a continuation of a general negative attitude which existed prior to the Russian Revolution. It mirrored the perception of Russia in Britain.

But I think that books on culture, as we get closer to modern times, generally become more accurate. Early books' authors generally had little first-hand contact with Russia and Russians--their knowledge was mostly academic, not experiential.

[WPM]

Have one - Russia and the land of Tsars.

[Velsigne]

Has research/thought on Russian literature and cultural history changed much over the past several generations, or would books from earlier times still retain substantial scholarly merit/relevance? For examples of the type of books I'm asking about:

Isabel Hapgood - A Survey of Russian Literature (1902)
Maurice Baring - Landmarks in Russian Literature (1910)
Evar Spector - An introduction to Russian history and culture (1954)

Are you asking because you're writing an essay for college level upper division essay?  

If so, and it were me, I would research and find out the various academic schools of thought, and definitely look in respected scholarly journals for essays.  Those sources look a little too dated to be used as the foundation for a good research paper, but I've not studied Russian lit crit specifically, but in general it has changed tremendously in the last generations, and different schools of thought can be used to analyze literature.  

Happened upon this site: http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780822977445

It has a chapter on emigre literary crit, which might add an additional insight in an essay, though one might have to analyze whether that body of work influenced the wider standard academic field. 

Here's a Boston University reading list for a lower division course that has what looks to be some standard works on Russian culture from American academia:  http://www.bu.edu/library/guide/wr150russian/



I used to love writing research papers, but it's been awhile.  Research methods can't have changed all that much though.

The field of history is definitely changing.  One book I like is "Keeping the Faith: Russian Orthodox Monasticism in the Soviet Union, 1917-1939" by Jennifer Jean Wynot, PhD, University of Texas Press.  Not what you're looking for right now, but thought you might find it interesting at some point.

[LBK]

The Russian Chronicles (ISBN 0-7126-3764-8). It covers the beginnings of Kievan Rus to the Glasnost period, drawing from primary chronicles, and with notes and commentary by a variety of academics, across the fields of history, politics, literature, art, language, and economics.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Russian-Chronicles-Norman-Stone/dp/0712637648

[Velsigne]

The Russian Chronicles (ISBN 0-7126-3764-8). It covers the beginnings of Kievan Rus to the Glasnost period, drawing from primary chronicles, and with notes and commentary by a variety of academics, across the fields of history, politics, literature, art, language, and economics.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Russian-Chronicles-Norman-Stone/dp/0712637648

That looks a great book!