+ − Cleveland p42 Ap ’20 100w
“The story has charm and a warm subdued color and a savor of the earth and of old houses in forgotten sunshine.”
+ Nation 110:373 Mr 20 ’20 260w
“Coggin is, to tell the truth, a fearful prig, and the reader must have a patient way with priggish and humorless virtue to bear with him till the end of the present narrative. The story is told with a certain skill and polish; but it is not very clearly worth telling, for all that.”
− + Review 2:310 Mr 27 ’20 220w The Times [London] Lit Sup p698 N 27 ’19 60w
OLGIN, MOISSAYE JOSEPH. Guide to Russian literature (1820–1917). $3 (3½c) Harcourt 891.7
20–7675
Because Russian literature reproduces the spiritual struggles of men and goes down to the very bottom of everyday existence to scrutinize the economic, the social and the political life of the country, its study becomes valuable not only as an art but as the surest road to the understanding of the Russian people and conditions. The author therefore has selected from the literary productions of the nineteenth and twentieth century only those which have value for the present either on account of their artistic qualities, or as representing some aspect of Russian life. The contents are in three chronological groups, each preceded by a general survey of the era. Part I—The growth of a national literature; Part II—The “modernists”; Part III—The recent tide. The book also contains a list of pronunciations of authors’ names, an appendix on juvenile literature in Russia, and an index.
“This might well be called an inspired booklist. It answers the question ‘What shall I read to understand Russian character and Russian life?’”