San Antonio College Library

"These autobiographical writings, rich sources of information on Tsvetaeva and her literary contemporaries, are also significant for the insights they provide into the sources and methodology of her difficult poetic language. In addition, they supply a unique eyewitness account of a dramatic period in Russian history, told by a gifted and outspoken poet."--Jacket.

Nine stories by Russian women. In She Who Bears No Ill, a woman disfigured by a disease prefers to be locked up in a mental institution rather than be looked at with repugnance outside, while The Day of the Poplar Flakes describes the shoddy treatment of terminally ill patients in a provincial hospital.

The selections in this anthology overturn Soviet-era taboos with a vengeance. First published in the aftermath of Mikhail Gorbachev's liberalizing reforms, these stories revel in the commonalities of human experience even as they reassert a peculiarly Russian belief in the spiritual, mystical, and supernatural. They satirize Soviet literary canons while exploring a full gamut of styles, from neorealism to magico-folkloric fantasy. Included are works...