A History of Russian Literature: From Its Beginnings to 1900

A History of Russian Literature: From Its Beginnings to 1900 contains all of D. S. Mirsky’s A History of Russian Literature and the first two chapters of his Contemporary Russian Literature, as they appeared in the one-volume A History of Russian Literature, edited by Francis J. Whitfield and published in 1949 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Russian literature has always been inseparably linked to Russian history. D. S. Mirsky, in dealing with this fact, constantly kept in mind the ever colorful and changing aspects of the one in discussing the other. With a keen and penetrating sense of values, fortified by a style sharp enough to carry every nuance of his meaning, he explored one of the most complex and fascinating literatures of the world. “[Mirsky’s'] histories of literature ... possess learning., elegance, wit, intellectual gaiety, and an incomparable style and sweep and power of communicating impressions and ideas.” — Sir Isaiah Berlin “Prince Mirsky is both scholar and stylist; his books, therefore, have a double right to live.” — Clifton Fadiman