Published January 1986

Valentin Rasputin and Soviet Russian Village Prose
David C. Gillespie
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 22

Published January 1989

Verse Form and Meaning in the Poetry of Vladimir Maiakovskii: Vladimir Maiakovskii. Tragediaa; Oblako v shtanakh; Fleita-pozvonochnik; Chelovek; Liubliu; Pro eto
Robin Aizlewood
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 26

Published January 1990

A Semiotic Analysis of the Short Stories of Leonid Andreev (1900-1909)
Stephen Hutchings
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 32

Published January 1995

Spirit of the Totem: Religion and Myth in Soviet Fiction 1964-1988
Irena Maryniak
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 39

Published January 2000

The Annotated Bakhtin Bibliography
Edited by Carol Adlam and David Shepherd
MHRA Bibliographies 1

Mining for Jewels: Evgenii Zamiatin and the Literary Stylization of Rus'
Philip Cavendish
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 51

Published December 2003

A Self-Administered Poison: The System and Functions of Soviet Censorship
Arlen Blyum
Special Lecture Series 5

  • ‘The title of this marvellous little book relates both to Soviet propaganda and to the Soviet censorship system in general... This well-translated booklet will, I hope, stimulate more Western scholars to work in this fascinating field.’ — Martin Dewhirst, Slavonic and East European Review 84.2, 2006, 319-20 (full text online)

Published February 2005

The Feminine in the Prose of Andrey Platonov
Philip Bullock
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘The author traces with great clarity the development of Platonov's thinking... This appears to be Legenda's first excursion into the Russian field, and the results are impressive. There are long, carefully analysed quotations in Cyrillic, all fully translated in a way which does justice to Platonov's highly idiosyncratic style.’ — Michael Pursglove, Slavonic and East European Review 84.2, 2006, 314-15 (full text online)
  • ‘Interesting... Although Bullock sets out to concentrate on a single topic (gender) from specific points of view (feminism and psychoanalysis), he admits to his "admiration of the paradoxical nature of [Platonov's] prose", and it is exactly this admiration that prevents the monograph from becoming a single-minded study of just one theme in the prose in question.’ — Anat Vernitski, Modern Language Review 103.3, July 2008, 921-23 (full text online)
  • ‘The book is founded on close readings that every scholar of Platonov will want to consult. The formulations are elegant and are likely to be quoted frequently in the scholarly literature... This indispensable book on Platonov is also a compelling study in the value and limits of methodology.’ — Eric Naiman, Russian Review 68.4, 2009, 693-94
  • ‘Philip Bullock’s important new book on Andrei Platonov energetically elaborates what it promises at its outset: a feminist reading of Platonov’s most significant prose works... an eloquent and insightful investigation into a distinctly unsettled element in Platonov’s worldview. Bullock follows earlier studies of gender relations and sexuality in Platonov by Eric Naiman, Eliot Borenstein, and Valerii Podoroga but offers a far more extensive and synthetic account of the oeuvre.’ — Thomas Seifrid, Slavic Review 69.1, Spring 2010, 236-37
  • ‘(notice in Japanese)’ — Susumu Nonaka, Bulletin of the Japanese Association of Russian Scholars 38, 2006, 143-46
  • ‘(notice in Russian)’ — Tat’iana Krasavchenko, Literaturnovedenie 1 (2007), 124-32

Published May 2005

The Ethics of the Poet: Marina Tsvetaeva's Art in the Light of Conscience
Ute Stock
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 62

  • ‘This book is an important contribution to Tsvetaeva studies, and its examination of an overlooked aspect of the poet’s work should provoke many readers to return to the texts it discusses, open to new insight and wary of categorical judgements.’ — Katharine Hodgson, Modern Language Review 102, 2007, 610 (full text online)
  • ‘This is an important and serious study of Tsvetaeva's ethical poetics as it evolved in exile... The study provides an important addition to the existing critical literature on the poet and her thought.’ — Greta Slobin, Russian Review 67, 2008, 327-28

Published September 2005

Women in Russian Literature after Glasnost: Female Alternatives
Carol Adlam
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘An engaging look at some of the most influential figures in post-Soviet writing.’ — Benjamin Sutcliffe, Modern Language Review 104.1, January 2009, 307-08 (full text online)

Published May 2006

The Fantastic in France and Russia in the Nineteenth Century: In Pursuit of Hesitation
Claire Whitehead
Studies In Comparative Literature 10

  • ‘This recent volume from the Legenda imprint maintains the high standards of production and academic excellence in the field of comparative literature that readers have come to expect from the marque.’ — Leon Burnett, Slavonic and East European Review 86.4, 2008, 707-09 (full text online)
  • ‘Most of all benefits through its comparative analyses of chosen texts; this not only makes obvious the "pan-European" context in which the fantastic flourished during the nineteenth century but will, it is to be hoped, inspire others to tinker further with some of the concepts applied here to the fantastic, especially in relation to other examples of Gothic fiction.’ — Slobodan Sugur, Modern Language Review 104.3, 2009, 824-25 (full text online)
  • ‘This is a very readable work, which constitutes a valuable complement to Todorov's 1970 "Introduction à la littérature fantastique."’ — Forum for Modern Language Studies 235)
  • ‘Essential reading for scholars of the fantastic; I also recommend it to instructors, who can use Whitehead's readings of these classic texts to astound their students by revealing the way that language works to produce the thrills of the genre.’ — Lynn Patyk, Russian Review 68.1, May 2009, 129-30

Published December 2006

Bakhtin between East and West: Cross-Cultural Transmission
Karine Zbinden
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘Zbinden exhibits considerable theoretical insight and a capacity for nuanced analysis throughout the work.’ — R. Coates, Slavonic and East European Review 87.2, 2009, 344-46 (full text online)
  • ‘Exceptional new work being produced on the Russian polymath, some of the most interesting of which was coming out of the University of Sheffield, whose Bakhtin Centre supports the work of an outstanding group of language theorists... Karine Zbinden and Alastair Renfrew are two of the excellent younger scholars from the Bakhtin Centre.’ — Michael Bernard-Donals, Slavic Review 68.1, Spring 2009, 193-95

Towards a New Material Aesthetics: Bakhtin, Genre and the Fates of Literary Theory
Alastair Renfrew
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘Alastair Renfrew's book offers an intricate and critical reading of what he sees as the decisive moment of origin of European literary theory in order then to fashion from that reading a (post-)theoretical position for our own time.’ — Graham Pechey, Modern Language Review 103.4, October 2008, 1184-85 (full text online)
  • ‘Genre becomes in Renfrew's treatment of it a useful map for guidance along some of the more intriguing twists and turns in the Bakhtin canon... An important addition to the growing library of Bakhtiniana.’ — Michael Holquist, Slavonic and East European Review 87.1, 2009, 114-15 (full text online)
  • ‘Exceptional new work being produced on the Russian polymath, some of the most interesting of which was coming out of the University of Sheffield, whose Bakhtin Centre supports the work of an outstanding group of language theorists... Karine Zbinden and Alastair Renfrew are two of the excellent younger scholars from the Bakhtin Centre.’ — Michael Bernard-Donals, Slavic Review 68.1, Spring 2009, 193-95

Published August 2007

David Bergelson: From Modernism to Socialist Realism
Edited by Joseph Sherman and Gennady Estraikh
Studies In Yiddish 6

  • ‘A happy balance between text and context... everything from a close reading of his works to an examination of the literary, historical and cultural context in which those works were produced. This book is, in effect, more than the examination of the works of one author.’ — Eric Dickens, Three Percent March 2008
  • ‘Once more the Legenda imprint brings us an exemplary collection of essays on Yiddish literature... A magisterial study of exceptional factual richness which will remain a major source-work on this topic for years to come.’ — Hugh Denman, Modern Language Review 104.1, January 2009, 297-99 (full text online)
  • ‘Bergelson was arrested early in 1949 and executed in August 1952. His work has largely fallen into oblivion... There is thus all the more reason to welcome this collection of essays. It includes a biographical study by [Joseph] Sherman and essays by various people on different aspects of Bergelson's fiction, among them a fascinating account of conflicts with Abe Cahan, editor of Forverts.’ — Antony Polonsky, Times Literary Supplement 2 May 2008, 23
  • ‘The editors have done a remarkable job collecting essays that finally put Bergelson on the map of literary and historical scholarship. This is the necessary first step in assuring that the contribution made by this important Yiddish writer to the development of world's literature does not remain unnoticed.’ — Anna Shternshis, H-Judaic January 2009

Published November 2007

Literary Scholarship in Late Imperial Russia: Rituals of Academic Institutionalization
Andy Byford
Legenda (General Series)

  • ‘A thoroughly researched, thoughtfully conceptualized, and highly informative book that will hopefully lead to further interest in the remarkable yet in many cases still underrecognized scholarship that emerged just before and after the turn of the twentieth century.’ — Barry P. Scherr, Russian Review 67.3, July 2008, 500-01
  • ‘This elegantly written account of the development of Russian literary scholarship is distinctive for its focus on academics and university professors (kabinetnye uchenye) rather than the more familiar, civic-minded criticism associated with the names of Chernyshevskii or Belinskii... it affords a number of extremely valuable insights that are highly pertinent for the student of Russian intellectual culture more broadly.’ — Frances Nethercott, Revolutionary Russia 22.1, 2009, 97-99
  • ‘Byford’s monograph makes two extremely important systemic contributions. First, it is part of a process of reassessment of the Russian nineteenth century, whereby cultural historians attempt to step out of the teleological shadow cast by the gargantuan events of the early twentieth century, and indeed, to redress the methodological blindspots that grew from the Soviet era; second, Byford also joins those few (in the UK, largely Bakhtin Circle-oriented Russianists) who strive to contextualize the insights of early twentieth-century Russian literary theorists.’ — Carol Adlam, Modern Language Review 105.2, 2010, 620-21 (full text online)
  • ‘Ces quelques remarques n'enlèvent rien à la qualité de cet ouvrage, le premier à aborder les études littéraires en Russie sous l'angle des processus d'institutionnalisation et qui, à ce titre, constitue une étude véritablement pionnière.’ — Catherine Depretto, Cahiers du Monde Russe 2010, 794-96

Published March 2008

University Theses in Russian, Soviet, and East European Studies 1907–2006: A Centennial Bibliography of Research in the British Isles
Compiled and edited by Gregory Walker and J. S. G. Simmons
MHRA Bibliographies 3

  • ‘This volume is a fascinating work in all kinds of ways. All scholars and researchers in the field are indebted to the labours of the compilers, Gregory Walker and the late John Simmons, for providing what will be an invaluable research aid ... In what it tells us ultimately of the workings of the human mind and spirit, this book is extraordinary...’ — Joe Andrew, Modern Language Review 104.1, 2009, 302-04 (full text online)

Published April 2008

The Relaunch of the Soviet Project, 1945-64
Edited by Juliane Fürst, Polly Jones and Susan Morrissey
Slavonic and East European Review 86.2

Published October 2008

Yiddish in the Cold War
Gennady Estraikh
Studies In Yiddish 7

  • ‘This meticulously researched book is the first comprehensive English-language study of Yiddish in the Communist world after the murder of Soviet Yiddish writers on 12 August 1952. Estraikh’s story more or less begins where everyone else’s ends. For this alone, Estraikh’s book is an important corrective to our understanding of Yiddish in general, and Soviet Yiddish culture in particular. Just because Stalin said he’d killed off Yiddish culture didn’t make it so... Full of amazing research.’ — David Shneer, East European Jewish Affairs 39.3, December 2009, 401–413
  • ‘Yiddish in the Cold War tells an important story in the history of twentieth-century Yiddish. The book's focus on the internal machinations of the editorial boards of Communist Yiddish periodicals, though, cuts short any broader observations about the Cold War per se... One hopes that Estraikh's new work will stimulate more research into Yiddish culture in the postwar Soviet Union.’ — Jeffrey Veidlinger, Russian Review 69.1, January 2009, 173-74
  • ‘A carefully researched monograph about a hitherto hidden corner of Yiddish culture during a period of contraction.’ — Zachary M. Baker, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 28.4, Summer 2010, 190-92

Published April 2010

Personality and Place in Russian Culture
Edited by Simon Dixon
Slavonic and East European Review 88.1

  • ‘A most worthy homage to [Lindsey Hughes's] legacy and offers fascinating perspectives on Russian history and culture.’ — Andreas Schönle, Modern Language Review 106.2, 2011, 612-13 (full text online)
  • ‘This is a collection of stimulating essays on people and places relating to Russian culture, written by scholars who are at the top of their game. As such it is a fitting tribute to Lindsey's academic life.’ — Geoffrey Swain, European History Quarterly 43.1, 2013, 137-38

Turning into Sterne: Viktor Shklovskii and Literary Reception
Emily Finer
Studies In Comparative Literature 18

  • ‘In [Finer's] own inventive readings, the impact of Sterne and English eighteenth-century narrative experiments is dominant in Shklovskii’s journalism and fiction of the mid 1920s. The overt play with convention evident in his non- fiction, as in his novels, exemplifies in a double sense the khod konia — both the knight’s move of artistic indirection and the hobby horse of Shandean digressions.’ — Dale E. Peterson, Slavonic and East European Review 89.4, October 2011, 720-21 (full text online)
  • ‘Emily Finer’s first monograph represents a significant advance on any other coverage of Viktor Shklovskii (1893–1984) and his work in literature to date... An outstanding study for those interested in early twentieth-century Soviet culture, comparative literature and literary reception, close readings of English literature in Russian translation, and the publication and dissemination of English literature in Russia and the Soviet Union.’ — Rosemari Baker, Slavonica 17.1, April 2011, 54-55

Published March 2011

A Captive of the Dawn: The Life and Work of Peretz Markish (1895-1952)
Edited by Joseph Sherman, Gennady Estraikh, Jordan Finkin and David Shneer
Studies In Yiddish 9

  • ‘This volume is not only the best study of Markish’s career available in English — it is the only one. And yet, one could not hope for a better treatment of its worthy subject... Given Markish’s signiicance to the development of Yiddish literature in Poland as well as the Soviet Union, there is no doubt that any scholar of Yiddish will consult these essays frequently and gratefully.’ — Marc Caplan, Slavonic and East European Review 92.2, April 2014, 321-23 (full text online)

Published May 2011

The Art of Comparison: How Novels and Critics Compare
Catherine Brown
Studies In Comparative Literature 23

  • ‘Brown's core chapters gracefully use varied conceptual tools and interdisciplinary viewpoints, all of which are engagingly woven into an organic whole, so that the reader emerges from this ambitious enterprise appreciating what notable work can be done when translation theory and practice are not seen as separate entities but as intercommunicative.’ — Andrew Radford, Translation and Literature 20, 2011, 403-08
  • ‘Dexterously connects Eliot, Tolstoy and Lawrence to the considerations of nationalism and supranationalism at the heart of critical debates within and about comparative literary scholarship... Convincingly demonstrates that we as literary critics should open our ears and our minds to unlikely literary conversations, as well as the fresh knowledge and pleasure we may glean from them.’ — Katherine Anderson, George Eliot-George Henry Lewes Studies 62-63 (September 2012), 124-26

Published June 2012

Translating Sholem Aleichem: History, Politics and Art
Edited by Gennady Estraikh, Jordan Finkin, Kerstin Hoge and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 10

  • ‘I would highly recommend this volume for a range of readers: those interested in issues of translation generally, those who wish to know more about the life and work of this central Yiddish writer, and those desirous of understanding the complexities of translating Yiddish.’ — Leah Garrett, Modern Language Review 109.1, January 2014, 221-22 (full text online)

Published January 2013

Trust and Distrust in the USSR
Edited by Geoffrey Hosking
Slavonic and East European Review 91.1

The Prose of Sasha Sokolov: Reflections on/of the Real
Elena Kravchenko
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 86

  • ‘Written with admirable coherence, this original, sophisticated and well-researched book by a young scholar should be read by anyone interested in Sokolov's novels ... If Sokolov's novels can be unified by one critical approach, Kravchenko's study comes close."’ — Larissa Rudova, Slavic and East European Journal 58, 2014, 158-59