Refractions of Social Reality in the First Russian Novels

FAIN: FT-14063-78

William Mills Todd III
President and Fellows of Harvard College (Cambridge, MA 02138-3800)

To study several strikingly different novelistic depictions of a common theme: polite, enlightened society and the writer's place in it. Monograph will consist of 6 chapters: l) theoretical and historical introduction; 2) examination of early 19th century definitions of the Russian writer's role in society; 3-5) analysis of three major novels (authors Pushkin, Lermontov, and Gogol); and 6) conclusions. Project will examine not only the represented worlds of fiction, but also the relationship between authors, narrators, and readers.