Author : Colleen McQuillen
Publisher : University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN 13 : 029929613X
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (992 download)
Book Synopsis The Modernist Masquerade by : Colleen McQuillen
Download or read book The Modernist Masquerade written by Colleen McQuillen and published by University of Wisconsin Pres. This book was released on 2013-12-10 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masked and costume balls thrived in Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries during a period of rich literary and theatrical experimentation. The first study of its kind, The Modernist Masquerade examines the cultural history of masquerades in Russia and their representations in influential literary works. The masquerade's widespread appearance as a literary motif in works by such writers as Anna Akhmatova, Leonid Andreev, Andrei Bely, Aleksandr Blok, and Fyodor Sologub mirrored its popularity as a leisure-time activity and illuminated its integral role in the Russian modernist creative consciousness. Colleen McQuillen charts how the political, cultural, and personal significance of lavish costumes and other forms of self-stylizing evolved in Russia over time. She shows how their representations in literature engaged in dialog with the diverse aesthetic trends of Decadence, Symbolism, and Futurism and with the era's artistic philosophies.