The Cambridge Introduction to Russian Literature

10 The Cambridge Introduction to Russian Literature

catastrophe, and an alarming xenophobia.8 It is indeed true that these character traits read like a home page for the darker sides of Dostoevsky’s novels. But it is also true – and this is the second ideal – that Russian literature long ago slipped out from under the tutelage of the nation that produced it. Russian artists – in literature, theatre, dance, music, film – have inspired more disciples and “schools” around the world than any other single national culture. Since the early 1990s, a bit of that openness has been coming home.