Russian Women Poets of the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries is
a bold, pioneering achievement. Not only does it bring to light a poetic
tradition that has been totally forgotten for over two centuries, even
in its country of origin, but it does so in a broadly inclusive fashion.
It offers both the Russian texts (verified against their original
publications) as well as accurate English translations, accompanied by
short illuminating biographical and critical introductions. It thus
makes this intriguing material accessible to a broad spectrum of
readers, from the curious generalist to the scholar. This corpus of
texts sheds significant light on the genesis and formation of modern
Russian verse and on the ways in which this new cohort of poets strove
to find their voice during a complex era of shifting literary, cultural
and gender values, navigating between the male-oriented high genres of
Neoclassicism and the "feminized" modes of Sentimentalism.
--Marcus C. Levitt
Professor, Department of Slavic Languages, University of Southern
California