books
ghostly paradoxes modern spiritualism and russian culture in the age of realism
p the culture of nineteenth century russia is often seen as dominated by realism in the arts as exemplified by the novels of leo tolstoy and ivan turgenev the paintings of the wanderers and the historical operas of modest mussorgsky . paradoxically nineteenth century russia was also consumed with a passion for spiritualist activities such as table rappings seances of spirit communication and materialization of the spirits . ghostly paradoxes examines the surprising relationship between spiritualist beliefs and practices and the positivist mindset of the russian age of realism 1850 80 to demonstrate the ways in which the two disparate movements influenced each other . p foregrounding the important role that nineteenth century spiritualism played in the periods aesthetic ideological and epistemological debates ilya vinitsky challenges literary scholars who have considered spiritualism to be archaic and peripheral to other cultural issues of the time . ghostly paradoxes is an innovative work of literary scholarship that traces the reactions of russias major realist authors to spiritualist events and doctrines and demonstrates that both movements can be understood only when examined together .
hardcover university of toronto press 2009 isbn13 9780802099358 isbn10 0802099351
abridged n isbn 13 9780802099358 number in series 1 number of pages 320 publisher university of toronto press release date 62135769600000