The study of literature began in the 18th century in the form of biographical compilations and bibliographical indexes, Novikov being the principal pioneer. To wards 1830 literary studies came under the influence of German philosophical idealism. Stepan Shevyrev (1806-64), a highly cultured critic and a right-wing Slavophil, was the first to attempt, without much success, a scholarly presentation of Russian literature. The journalistic surveys of Belinsky were much more influential in establishing a generally accepted vulgate of literary history. In the second half of the 19th century Russian folk lore attracted considerable learned attention, almost invariably influenced by the romantic theories of Grimm. An extreme form of such romanticism is apparent in the work of Orest Miller (1838-89). Theodore Buslayev (1818-97) was a more circum spect idealist, and the first to attempt to bring together the study of old Russian literature and old Russian art. In the following generation A. A. Potebnya (1835-91) tried to place the study of folklore on a broad basis of linguistic psychology. Alexander Veselovsky (1838-1906) directed his efforts towards a strictly scientific study of comparative literature. Old Russian literature remained in the hands of philologists and its study was conducted on somewhat narrowly academic lines. The foremost representa tives of this line of study today are V. N. Peretts (187o– )
and V. M. Istrin, whose history of Kiev literature (1922) is the most authoritative survey of the period. Less moderate is the work of A. M. Pypin (1833-1904) whose History of Russian Literature is a scholarly and industrious attempt to represent old Russian civilization in the poorest possible light. The work of most historians of modern Russian literature is marked by a strong party bias and an absence of literary understanding. The History of Russian Literature after 1848, by A. M. Skabichevsky (1838 1910), and the writings of S. A. Vengerov (1855-192o), literary editor of the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopaedia (189o-1907) and of numerous other publications, are best known and most fre quently utilized. The Marxists introduced a fresh note by sub ordinating the study of literature to that of economics. Of the early Marxists, the gifted Eugene Soloviev (pseud. Andreyevich, 1863-1905) wrote a Philosophy of Russian Literary History (1905) which is certainly worth reading. The canons of Marxist literary history were established by G. V. Plekhanov (1856-1918). Since 1917 Marxism is the official doctrine in literary history. The opposition is provided by the "formalists," whose influence on literary development has already been alluded to. Their most notable workers in the field of literary history are Boris Eichen baum and Yuri Tynyanov. On the whole, Russian literary his tory is in a far from satisfactory state, and there is no single adequate presentation of it. For the ancient period (including the
18th century) the student will be best guided by such collections of extracts as the Chrestomathy of Brodsky, Mendelson and Sidorov (3 parts, Moscow 1922-23). For the 19th century and later he will have to find his own way with the aid of existing bibliographies.
in Russian: Mezier, Russian Literature, Ink to 19th century (2 parts, 1899, 1902) ; Peretts, Short Outline of Meth odology of Russian Literature (1922) ; Vladislavlev, Russian Writers of the 19th and 2oth centuries (4th ed. 1924) ; Piksanov, Two Centuries of Russian Literature (18th and 19th centuries) (2nd ed. 1925).
Works in English: M. de Vogue, Le Roman Russe (1885 ; Eng. trans. 1900) ; A. Waliszewski, A History of Russian Literature (Eng. trans. from French, (1900) ; Prince P. Kropotkin, Russian Literature (19o5; 2nd ed. 1916) ; A. Bruckner, A Literary History of Russia (Eng. trans. from German, 1908) ; M. Baring, Landmarks in Russian Literature (1910) and An Outline of Russian Literature (Home University Library, 1915) ; Mme. N. jarintzov, Russian Poets and Poems (1917) ; Prince D. S. Mirsky, Modern Russian Literature (The World's Manu als, 1925), Contemporary Russian Literature (after 1880 (1926), and A History of Russian Literature (to 1880 (1926) ; L. Wiener, The Contemporary Drama of Russia (Boston,
; J. Lavrin, Russian Literature (1927) .
Anthologies: J. Bowring, Specimens of the Russian Poets (2 parts, 1821, 23) ; L. Wiener, Anthology of Russian Literature (2 parts, 1902 03) ; Deutsch, Babette and Yarmolinsky, Modern Russian Poetry (1922) ; The Oxford Book of Russian Verse, Russian text, ed. with introd. by Maurice Baring (1925).
White-Russian was, by the side of Latin, the official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 14th century to its absorption by Poland, but apart from a few chronicles and a few translated romances it produced no literature. In the 19th century White-Russian literature did not rise above the level of provincial amateurishness. But in the present century a literary movement of which the chief names are Yanko Kupalo (b. 1882) and Michael Bagdanovich (Bogda novich, 1892-1917) has resulted in the formation of a national literature. White-Russian folklore is less varied than either great Russian or Ukrainian, and has no narrative poetry. Its lyrical song however is rich, and some of it presents archaic features. White-Russian studies are now centred in the White Russian State university at Minsk (founded 1921).
See N. Karsky, The White-Russians (in Russian, Warsaw, 1903 etc.) ; M. Haretsky (Goretsky), History of White-Russian Literature (in White-Russian, Minsk, 1926). For Ukrainian (or Little-Russian, or Ruthenian) literature see UKRAINIAN LITERATURE. (D. S. M.)