Synopses & Reviews
Chekhov and Russian Religious Culture is an innovative study of the Virgin Mary and the "saintly harlots"--Mary of Egypt and Mary Magdalene--as a cultural paradigm encoded in Chekhov's prose. De Sherbinin establishes the authority of the Marian paradigm in nineteenth-century Russian culture with a comprehensive overview of salient religious and literary texts, then offers critical readings of more than fifteen Chekhov stories, including key works such as "Peasants," "Peasant Women," and "My Life." De Sherbinin argues that Chekhov inverts and displaces the Christian meanings of Marian texts in order to reveal a vasy array of problematized relationships to the canonized figures. This illuminating semiotic reading of Chekhov explores questions of female identity as it probes the mindset of Russian Orthodox popular culture.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-184) and index.
About the Author
Julie de Sherbinin is an Associate Professor of Russian at Colby College.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Notes on Transliteration, Translation, and Citation
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter One: Two Marys: Chekhov's Religious and Literary Heritage
Chapter Two: Early Prose: Genesis of the Marian Context
Chapter Three: The Two Marys in Four Stories
Chapter Four: Distortion of Text in "Peasant Women"
Chapter Five: The Nature of Illusion in "The Teacher of Literature"
Chapter Six: The Nature of Conviction in "My Life"
Final Remarks
Appendix
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index