The Mongol Conquests in the Novels of Vasily Yan: An Intellectual Biography (Literature and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe #15)

By: Dmitry Shlapentokh

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: Vasily Yan (Vassily Grigoryevich Yanchevetsky, 1874–1954) was a writer of historical novels whose popularity survives the test of time. He was widely read throughout the Soviet era and continues to be popular in the post-Soviet era. This book is not just a biographical sketch of an important Russian/Soviet writer basically unknown to the Western public. The focus on Yan and his work also demonstrates the role of ideology in a totalitarian society. Shlapentokh shows that ideology and cultural and intellectual life in totalitarian regimes are more complex than is often assumed. Intellectuals often engaged in stressful, but—in its literary outcome—captivating "cat and mouse" games with censors, the powerful, and the government.