Review by Choice Review
In balanced readable prose, Heldt offers new interpretations of Russian classics, introduces largely ignored women writers whose autobiographies are worthy of note, and analyzes poems by four modern women poets, among whom Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva figure most prominently. While examining women as characters in male-dominated 19th-century Russian literature, Heldt exposes misogynistic tendencies in the very writers, long renowned for idealizing strong women at the expense of weak men, who actually had created for Russian women literary role models burdened with terrible perfection. She then demonstrates how women find a literary voice as self-defining subjects of autobiographies and as poets perfecting their craft while speaking out as narrators of their own lyrics. Heldt concludes that 19th-century male depictions of women still appear in contemporary Russian fiction, even as women tenaciously continue to define themselves in poetry and autobiography. Although she identifies her critical bias as feminist, Heldt's convincingly argued, provocative thesis will appeal to a wider audience. Good notes and a helpful index enhance the value of this book, useful to anyone interested in the history of Russian literature.-C.A. Rydel, Grand Valley State College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
