Russomania
Russian culture and the creation of British modernism, 1881-1922
Rebecca Beasley
Reviews and Awards
Winner, BASEES Womenâs Forum Prize 2022
"Rebecca Beasley's new book emphasizes the important role that Russian writing played in the debates that shaped the very definition of modernism as it follows the course of the battle between French and Russian influences." -- Tatiana Kuzmic, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Harvard University, SEER
"I have nothing butvadmiration for the scope and ambition of Rebecca Beasley's study, as well as for the meticulous and exhaustive research that lies at its foundation." -- Galya Diment, The Wellsian
"...the book offers a broad overview of the period and a discussion of specific pivotal literary events in Russo-British relations...Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." -- J. W. Moffett, Kentucky State University, CHOICE
"... this densely argued book exudes warm commitment and unflagging intellectual energy. [...] Dr Beasley is a worthy successor to an illustrious line of specialists in English literature who have made inspired contributions to Russian studies: the names of John Bayley, Donald Davie, and Henry Gifford spring immediately to mind. The seventy-plus-page bibliography that rounds out her book, and the punctilious undergirding of footnotes that it documents, give detailed evidence of a formidable feat of assimilated documentation, a good proportion of it in Russian." -- G. S. Smith, Essays in Criticism
"In addition to the contribution of this reading against the grain to the history of British modernism, the book will be appreciated for the great richness of this plunge into always complex and intense debates." -- Delphine Rumeau, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès [Translated from French]
"Full of intriguing detail, Russomania is so complete a history that it seems greedy to want more. [...] Beasleyâs meticulous footnotes and bibliography offer the reader all the information needed for further investigation." -- Pilgrimages: A Journal of Dorothy Richardson Studies
"many a Russianist would find numerous rewarding insights in Russomania ... Beasley offers many more analytical examples that uncover routes of multidirectional cultural exchange in the modernist age. Her account of the British fascination with Russia, both positive and negative ... reveals important aspects of what "Russianness" meant in early twentieth-century Britain. In turn, this knowledge will likely be indispensable for understanding not only European modernism, but in addition, later developments in the British-Soviet cultural dialogue." -- Roman Utkin, Russian Review