Optical Play: Glass, Vision, and Spectacle in Russian Culture (Studies in Russian Literature and Theory) - Softcover
Synopsis
Longlist finalist, 2015 Historia Nova Prize for Best Book on Russian Intellectual and Cultural History
Julia Bekman Chadaga's ambitious study posits that glass--in its uses as a material and as captured in culture--is a key to understanding the evolution of Russian identity from the eighteenth century onward. From the contemporary perspective, it is easy to overlook how glass has profoundly transformed vision. Chadaga shows the far-reaching effects of this phenomenon. Her book examines the similarities between glass and language, the ideological uses of glass, and the material's associations with modernity, while illuminating the work of Lomonosov, Dostoevsky, Zamyatin, and Eisenstein, among others. In particular, Chadaga explores the prominent role of glass in the discourse around Russia's contentious relationship with the West--by turns admiring and antagonistic--as the nation crafted a vision for its own future. Chadaga returns throughout to the spectacular aspect of glass and shows how both the tendentious capacity and the playfulness of this material have shaped Russian culture."synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
"This is a well-researched and well-argued book that will prove useful to scholars.... the book really inspires us to pay more attention to glass and the ways in which it shapes our lives" --Slavic Review
"This book is a Wunderkammer of Russian and Soviet culture, a museum of glass in literary texts, architecture, film, and other media. Her analysis of high and low culture is interspersed with the history of the material: the arrival of glass in Russia, the process of making window panes in the early nineteenth century, the working conditions in glass factories. The scope of the book is both astonishing and impressive." --The Russian Review
About the Author
Julia Bekman Chadaga is an assistant professor of Russian at Macalester College in Minnesota, USA.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for Optical Play: Glass, Vision, and Spectacle in Russian...
Stock Image
Optical Play: Glass, Vision, and Spectacle in Russian Culture (Studies in Russian Literature and Theory)
Published by
Northwestern University Press, 2014
ISBN 10: 0810134357
ISBN 13: 9780810134355
Used
Paperback
Seller: Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. Good - Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name - GOOD PAPERBACK Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # M0810134357Z3