Bethea (Slavic languages and literatures, U. of Wisconsin-Madison and Russian studies, Oxford U.) explores how the poetic impulse creates and is created by story, looking at Russian literature primarily as transmission and modification of large cultural patterns, though also recognizing the individuality of the authors. A central section on Pushkin as poet and thinker is preceded by a section on ... Read moregeneral themes and followed by one surveying how other Russian authors viewed their own work and that of others. Specific topics include the apocalyptic plot in Russian literature, how to read Pushkin's dialogue with Shakespeare in The Stone Guest, and Nabokov's style, and Joseph Brodsky's "To My Daughter." The ultra-contemporary typeface is for readers with a short attention span. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)|“Few American Slavists have been as prolific as David M. Bethea; hence this ample collection represents only a small sampling of his work. Nonetheless, it gives a good sense of his scholarly preoccupations over the past three decades. The book is wide-ranging in both its theoretical concerns and its choice of primary texts. . . . Bethea’s approach opens up obscure passages in unprecedented ways, often with admirable clarity.” –Michael Wachtel, Princeton University, in the Slavic Review Show Less