This excellent collection of essays not only revisits, but also rethinks, revises, and rediscovers the radical critics of mid-nineteenth-century Russian literature. It includes provocative studies of familiar figures (Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky, and Pisarev), as well as new work on lesser-known critics (Kushchevsky, Osipovich-Novodvorsky, and others). It is both an illuminating and refreshing read…

Michael R. Katz, C.V. Starr Professor Emeritus, Middlebury College

“This collection brings together an international group of scholars, united by their interest in the legacy of Russia’s nineteenth-century radical tradition. What results is a powerful vision of that rich corpus, extracted from the century-long, bipolar predicament of Soviet teleological valorization and post-Soviet (as well as anti-Soviet) dismissive neglect. The breadth of approaches represented in this collection make it legible not only to Slavists, but also to generalists, interested in intellectual history, the history of science, as well as race and postcolonial theory. The outcome is informative, timely, and consistently thought-provoking.”

Ilya Kliger, Associate Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, New York University