{"product_id":"persisting-in-folly-andrew-kahn-9783039119677","title":"Persisting in Folly: Russian Writers in Search of Wisdom, 1963-2013","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe theme of foolishness has long occupied an unusually prominent place in Russian culture, touching on key questions of national, spiritual, and intellectual identity. In literature, the figure of the fool - and the voice of the fool - has carried additional appeal as an enduring source of comic and stylistic innovation. Never has this appeal been stronger than in the past half-century, whether as a reaction to the  scientific atheism  and official culture of the late-socialist era, or as a response to the intellectual and moral disorientation that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePersisting in Folly\u003c\/em\u003e traces three contrasting phases within this period: the  praise of folly  that underpins acknowledged samizdat masterpieces by Venedikt Erofeev, Yuz Aleshkovsky, and Sasha Sokolov; the sceptical appraisals of the Russian cult of the fool offered in the 1980s by Viktor Erofeev and Dmitry Galkovsky; and the legacy of this conflicted tradition in post-Soviet prose. By combining close readings with a rich comparative and contextual framework, this book charts a new path through recent Russian literature and offers a wide-ranging consideration of the causes and consequences of Russian writers' enduring quest for wisdom through folly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Andrew Kahn,Oliver Ready\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 3039119672\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9783039119677\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/28\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 408\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.23lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.86d","brand":"Andrew Kahn","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48446077731071,"sku":"9783039119677","price":89.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_3d74f92c-1573-46bb-bb3f-b050a009d81d.jpg?v=1777222476","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/persisting-in-folly-andrew-kahn-9783039119677","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}