Imitations of Life

"Melodrama bore all the defects and virtues of its parent, the French Revolution. Given to wild flights, neck-breaking twists and turns, stark judgements of good and evil, the genre also brought public attention onto private life and the vicissitudes of underprivilege. Melodrama taught much to the Russians who appropriated it. As the contributors to the present volume demonstrate, it taught them how to see, to understand and even how to accomplish history. An imitator surely, but also a creator of life--we can all be grateful to Neuberger and McReynolds for bringing this to our attention."--James von Geldern, Macalaster College

Louise McReynolds and Joan Neuberger, eds.

"[A] talented and original group of scholars on Russian melodrama . . . . [A] fine job of asking new questions, examining well-known material from new perspectives, and applying a range of methodologies to a genre that benefits from such new analysis. . . . "Imitations of Life" is an excellent book that should appeal to professional historians and literary scholars, as well as to students enrolled in Russian studies courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. It offers much to those of us interested in adding a greater sense of texture to our understanding of the Russian cultural and social experience of the last two centuries. McReynolds, Neuberger, and their contributors should be congratulated for the their efforts."
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--William Richardson, "History: Review of New Books"