The Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism

The Russian avant-garde was a composite of antagonistic groups who wished to overthrow the basic aesthetics of classical realism. Modernism was the totality of these numerous aesthetic theories, which achieved a measure of coherence immediately after the First World War. This collection of essays by leading scholars examines the major figures, movements, and manifestos of the period. Scholarly attention is given to literature, visual arts, cinema, and theatre in an attempt to capture the complex nature of the modernist movement in Russia. This book would be especially relevant for university courses on the Russian twentieth century as well as for those looking for a comprehensive approach to the various movements and artistic expressions that constitute the Russian avant-garde.

Frederick White holds a PhD from the University of Southern California. Presently, he is the Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah Valley University. He is one of the leading specialists on the Russian writer Leonid Andreev and has published in the areas of Russian Modernism, psychology and literature, pseudoscience in the Russian fin de siècle and the economics of culture.

Ayse Dietrich, Middle East Technical University, International Journal of Russian Studies Issue no. 6, Jan 2017:
"This introductory book provides comprehensive analysis of the radical artistic movement Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism, included [sic] well written biographical articles, critical analyses and collected samples of the Russian Avant-Garde and Modernism. It is a remarkable resource for not only researchers but also students who study Russian literature and culture, particularly the movement Russian Avant-Garde and Modernism."

Maria Pasholok:
"Gracefully written by some of the best scholars in contemporary Russian and modernism studies, the essays are simple, precise, filled with detail and will capture the interest of anyone attracted to this period of Russian culture. . . . Dennis Ioffe and Frederick White have produced a challenging, thought-provoking collection that will certainly inspire readers to explore the topic further."

Pamela Kachurin:
“Indeed, this introductory reader is a handy book that can replace or augment course packs and online course websites that require painstaking effort to compile. Students and faculty who read these essays can be confident that they have access to a thoughtful selection of important primary source documents and some recent scholarship in the field. . . . The Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism: An Introductory Reader is a valuable resource for students and teachers of Russian modernism, and a relevant, useful source to add to every syllabus.”

Connor Doak, University of Bristol:
“One of the few volumes on the Russian avant-garde designed with an undergraduate audience in mind, Dennis Ioffe and Fredrick White’s critical reader proves a welcome addition to the field. . . . This book offers an impressive selection of critical work, including several pieces newly commissioned for this volume as well as reprinted or adapted versions of previously published materials. . . . Accessibility is key to the success of any volume designed for undergraduates, and Ioffe and White have judiciously chosen material that will prove engaging to a student audience. . . . The eclectic variety of critical approaches represented here will demonstrate to students the diverse ways to approach avant-garde culture, and introduce some key debates among scholars in the field...[O]ne must commend Ioffe and White for producing this valuable volume.”

Evgeny Dobrenko, University of Sheffield:
“Stimulating and comprehensive, gracefully written, filled with fascinating details and counterintuitive conclusions, this essential introduction to the Russian Avant-Garde offers a convincing and perceptive analysis of the Russian radical aesthetic thought and brings valuable new light to the most important developments in twentieth-century art. In the age of skepticism, repetition, and nostalgia for olden time dynamism a reading of these texts brings back a sense of freshness, power and fearlessness of Russian art in its heyday."

Thomas Seifrid, Professor, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California:
“A remarkable volume, The Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism brings together the most significant movements and figures in Russian experimental art, cinema, and literature of the early twentieth century (both pre-Soviet and Soviet) and presents them in commentary by leading scholars in the field. The result is a vibrant introduction to Russian aesthetic thought of the last century, as well as to cutting-edge assessments of its meaning. A volume like this has long been overdue. It will be enormously useful to students of Russian culture in the modern era as well as anyone seeking a better understanding of modernism in general—an artistic movement to which Russian artists made particularly brilliant contributions.”