
Optical Play
Glass, Vision, and Spectacle in Russian Culture
Gary Saul Morson(Founded by)
Julia Bekman Chadaga(Author)
Northwestern University Press
Will be published approx. on 30. November 2014
Book
Hardback
300 pages
978-0-8101-3003-6 (ISBN)
Description
Julia Bekman Chadaga's ambitious study posits that glass - in its uses as a material and as captured in culture - is a key to understanding the evolution of Russian identity from the eighteenth century onward. From the contemporary perspective, it is easy to overlook how glass has profoundly transformed vision. Chadaga shows the far-reaching effects of this phenomenon. Her book examines the similarities between glass and language, the ideological uses of glass, and the material's associations with modernity, while illuminating the work of Lomonosov, Dostoevsky, Zamyatin, and Eisenstein, among others. In particular, Chadaga explores the prominent role of glass in the discourse around Russia's contentious relationship with the West - by turns admiring and antagonistic - as the nation crafted a vision for its own future. Chadaga returns throughout to the spectacular aspect of glass and shows how both the tendentious capacity and the playfulness of this material have shaped Russian culture.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Evanston
United States
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
572 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8101-3003-6 (9780810130036)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2014
1st Edition
Northwestern University Press
€229.99
Available for download
Persons
Julia Bekman Chadaga is an assistant professor of Russian at Macalester College in Minnesota, USA.