More than any other art form, literature defined Eastern Europe as a cultural and political entity in the second half of the twentieth century. Although often persecuted by the state, East European writers formed what was frequently recognized to be a "second government," and their voices were heard and revered inside and outside the borders of their countries. This study by one of our most influential specialists on Eastern Europe considers the effects of the end of communism on such writers. According to Andrew Baruch Wachtel, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the creation of fledgling societies in Eastern Europe brought an end to the conditions that put the region's writers on a pedestal. In the euphoria that accompanied democracy and free markets, writers were liberated from the burden of grandiose political expectations. But no group is happy to lose its influence: despite recognizing that their exalted social position was related to their reputation for challenging political oppression, such writers have worked hard to retain their status, inventing a series of new strategies for this purpose. Remaining Relevant after Communism considers these strategies—from pulp fiction to public service—documenting what has happened on the East European scene since 1989.

The hero of Baize-Covered Table undergoes a searching bureaucratic investigation, that staple of the old Soviet and even older Russian police state. With the naked intensity of personal nightmare, the hero visits and returns to the stark scene of his inquisition: the bare room, the table, the ever-present decanter, and behind the table those recurring phantoms, 'The Party Man, ' 'The Young Wolf, ' 'The Almost Pretty Woman, ' 'The One Who Asks the Questions.'.

First Published in 1998. This volume will surely be regarded as the standard guide to Russian literature for some considerable time to come... It is therefore confidently recommended for addition to reference libraries, be they academic or public.

A comprehensive and illuminating survey of literary journalism with both historical and international scope, this anthology is the only one of its kind. In a series of sparkling readings, Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda trace the evolution of the so-called "new" journalism back to the 18th century.

This text offers a critical study of postmodernism in Russian literature. It takes some of the central issues of the critical debate to develop a conception of postmodern poetics as a dialogue with chaos and places Russian literature in the context of an enriched postmodernism.

An Esquire “Best Christmas Book to Read During the Holidays” An anthology of 22 Christmas stories written by African American journalists, activists, and writers from the late 19th century to the modern civil rights movement Originally published in African American newspapers, periodicals, and journals between 1880 and 1953, these Christmas stories are part of the black literary tradition that flourished after the Civil War. Edited and assembled by esteemed historian Dr. Bettye Collier-Thomas, this enchanting collection of Christmas tales is back in print for the first time in over a decade. These stories and poems reflect the Christmas experiences of everyday African Americans and explore familial and romantic love, faith, and more serious topics such as racism, violence, poverty, and racial identity. Featuring the best stories and poems from previous editions along with new material: • “The Sermon in the Cradle” by W.E.B. Du Bois • “A Carol of Color” by Mary Jenness • “The Christmas Reunion Down at Martinsville” by Augustus M. Hodges • “The Children’s Christmas” by Alice Moore Dunbar • “Christmas Eve Story” by Fanny Jackson Coppin • “Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift” by Mary E. Lee • “A Christmas Story” by Carrie Jane Thomas • “Fannie May’s Christmas” by Katherine Davis Tillman • “Elsie’s Christmas” by Salem Tutt Whitney • “General Washington: A Christmas Story” by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins • “The Autobiography of a Dollar Bill” by Lelia Plummer • “Mirama’s Christmas Test” by Timothy Thomas Fortune • “A Christmas Party That Prevented a Split in the Church” by Margaret Black • “Three Men and a Woman” by Augustus M. Hodges • “It Came to Pass: A Christmas Story” by Bruce L. Reynolds • “A Christmas Journey” by Louis Lorenzo Redding • “Uncle U.S. Santa Claus” by James Conway Jackson • “The Devil Spends Christmas Eve in Dixie” by Andrew Dobson • “One Christmas Eve” by Langston Hughes • “Santa Claus is a White Man” by John Henrik Clarke • “Merry Christmas Eve” by Adele Hamlin • “White Christmas” by Valena Minor Williams A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories celebrates a rich storytelling tradition and will be cherished by readers for years to come.

As the modern celebration of Christmas took shape across the nineteenth century, American writers gave it new meaning in the pages of countless books and magazines. Now, for the first time, this rich anthology brings together some of the most significant of those seasonal stories to retell a forgotten tale of Christmases past. From the authors who helped define a national literary culture, to the popular sentimentalists who negotiated Christmas’s position at the center of family life, to the realists who looked to reshape American letters in the wake of the Civil War, and beyond: all varieties of American writers turned to Christmas as an inevitable and potent subject during this deeply formative period in the history of American literature. In Christmas Past, Thomas Ruys Smith brings together a diverse range of voices to showcase the many ways in which Christmas was imagined across the nineteenth century, offering images that echo down to the present. The introduction that frames the anthology provides a new literary history of Christmas, contextualizing the selections and making clear the links both between them and to the wider trajectory of American literature.

** A New York Times New and Noteworthy Book ** Library of America and Connie Willis present 150 years of diverse, ingenious, and uniquely American Christmas stories Christmas took on its modern cast in America, and over the last 150 years the most magical time of the year has inspired scores of astonishingly diverse and ingenious stories. Library of America joins with acclaimed author Connie Willis to present a unparalleled collection of American stories about Christmas, literary gems that showcase how the holiday became one of the signature aspects of our culture. Spanning from the origins of the American tradition of holiday storytelling in the wake of the Civil War to today, this is the biggest and best anthology of American Christmas stories ever assembled. From ghost stories to the genres of crime, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, humor, and horror, stories of Christmas morning, gifts, wise men, nativities, family, commercialism, and dinners from New York to Texas to outer space, this anthology reveals the evolution of Christmas in America--as well as the surprising ways in which it has remained the same.

The forty-six short stories collected in this volume were originally published in The Colored American Magazine or The Crisis between 1900 and 1920. The Introduction to the collection, written by Elizabeth Ammons, explores the role played by the major black magazines of that period and demonstrates how these two magazines provided the largest secular outlets for short fiction by black women at the turn of the century.