The Familiar Letter as a Literary Genre in the Age of Pushkin

Download or read book The Familiar Letter as a Literary Genre in the Age of Pushkin written by William Mills Todd and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text examines the tradition of familiar letter writing that developed in the early 1800s among the Arzamasians, a literary circle that included such luminaries as Pushkin, Karamzin and Turgenev, and argues that these letters constitute a distinct literary genre. Todd gives a thorough prehistory of the convention of correspondence and concentrates on the themes, strategies, and autobiographical functions of the letter for several master writers in Pushkin's time. It is written in an accessible style with translations, an annotated list of the Arzamasians, and an extensive index and a bibliography.