Slavic & Eastern European Literature, Art & Music

This Brandeis University website is recommended for its numerous links to information on Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. Topics and materials include biographical information, online texts, and literary criticism.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a brief but well-written essay which introduces the reader to the context of Russian literature in the history of the Western world. Produced by Professor Paul Brians of Washington State University.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a lesson plan focusing on the role of chance in our lives, using the short story by Tolstoy as its point of departure. Be aware that the lesson plan does not contain the text of the short story, but it can be found in the Penguin Classics edition of "Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories," David McDuff, translator (1986), among other places.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended because this website contains Solzhenitsyn's autobiography, his bibliography, as well as two separate teacher guides and lesson plans for the Russian author and Nobel Prize winner's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The latter work shows well, in language accessible to secondary school students, the harsh reality of life in the USSR during the late Stalin period.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

There are many websites devoted to the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966). This one is recommended because it provides an excellent biography, posts several of her poems in English translation, contains a number of pictures of her, and lists a number of other Akhmatova Internet sites. Be aware that this site has commercial "pop-ups."
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

This no-frills website is recommended as a source for texts of several of Chekhov's works: Uncle Vanya, Black Monk, Sleepy-Eye, The Party, The Grasshopper, and Mire. Part of the Great Books Index, which also features the works of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as the largest and most comprehensive Dostoevsky website. Topics and materials include several of Dostoevsky's novels online, a chronology of the author's life, list of Dostoevsky literary criticism, internet links, and more.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a very thorough chapter by chapter summary of the novel, followed by "Study Topics" and "Some Facts that the Reader Should Know." Very well done. Produced by Middlebury College in Vermont which has one of the strongest Russian language departments in the US.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

One of the most famous passages written by Dostoevsky is the chapter from "The Brothers Karamazov" entitled The Grand Inquisitor. This website is recommended because it contains the entire text of the Grand Inquisitor in English, and introduces the chapter very well. This is a very interesting introduction to Dostoevsky’s philosphy and his writing, and it raises some fascinating questions about the nature of God and the church.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended because this library contains online versions of numerous works by fourteen Russian writers from Pushkin to Bulgakov. A tremendous resource, be aware of the drawback that the site is entirely in Russian.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended for its comprehensive links to Russian literature from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. The site is strongest for Russian poetry, and over 14,000 Russian poems are to be found here. Be aware that the site is in English, but the poems are mostly in Russian, though some are translated into English. In addition to the poems, the site also contains biographies of dozens of Russian poets. A very high-quality site.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as perhaps the best internet source for Russian poetry. Materials and topics include the poetry of dozens of Russians ranging from before Pushkin to those still alive today. The poems are displayed with side-by-side texts in both Russian and English. Most of the poets included here are provided with chronological biographies accompanied by photographs. Additional Internet links are included. Produced by the Slavic Languages Department at Northwestern University.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Written by Ernest J. Simmons, a noted authority on Leo Tolstoy, this website is recommended because it consists of twelve chapters outlining the significance of Tolstoy's work. Be aware, however, that it does not contain texts of the author's novels or short stories.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended for its thoughtful analysis of Anna Karenina. Topics and materials include an extensive introduction to the novel, discussion questions, biographical information on Tolstoy, and a list of related novels. Be aware that you cannot directly access this page, but must do so as follows: click on "home," then click on "site map," then scroll down to "reading guides" and click on it. Now click on "T" and you will see "Tolstoy"--click on it. By the way, there is also a reading guide for Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. Produced by Penguin Classics.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as an interesting and aesthetically pleasing website that takes a very personal look at the Russian poet's life in the “Mayakovsky’s Room” section. Materials include, in addition to many of his poems (in both Russian and English), lots of information on Mayakovsky's private life, including his letters and the reminiscences of others. Links to other Mayakovsky websites are also given. The other two sections are Avant-Garde Art and Velimir Khlebnikov.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended for its thorough biography of the Russian writer as well as its link to the online version in English of "A Hero in Our Time," Lermontov's best known work. The biographical information is from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended because with this lesson plan for grades 6-12, students read and analyze short stories by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy that illustrate the class conflicts of pre-revolutionary Russia. They will then create their own art, which will contain veiled criticisms of the same era in Russian history or a specific political/social issue evident in the United States today.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

This article, from the PBS "Frontline" documentary series, is recommended because it explores Aleksandr Pushkin's African heritage. It provides a wealth on information about Pushkin's great-grandfather, who was an Ethiopian who was a personal servant to Russian Emperor Peter the Great.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended for the detailed biography of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia's greatest and most beloved poet--and that is saying a great deal when you realize that Russians (unlike most Americans) are passionately devoted to poetry. Also to be found here are the texts of several Pushkin poems, some in Russian, some in English.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

This is a commercial site designed to sell hand-painted Russian lacquer boxes, but it is recommended as a good source of Russian folk tales, too. It has the added advantage of showing scenes of Russian fairy tales painted on lacquer boxes, so this gives the website extra cultural value. Be aware that lacquer boxes are considered by Russians to be one of the most refined examples of Russian folk art, and there is a great deal of national pride associated with them.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Bucknell University's guide to Russian literature is recommended because it gives general links as well as very specific references to individual authors. Be aware that a some of the linked websites are in Russian only.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a series of lectures by Professor Gary Jahn of the University of Minnesota. There are separate lectures on Pushkin, Lermontov, and Gogol, as well as three lectures devoted to Dostoevsky. A timeline and bibliography are also included. To access this series of lectures, click on "Supplementary Materials on Russian Literature' at the bottom left of the screen.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a large and useful, yet not overly academic site for information on Soviet writers, summaries of their works, and links to related websites. The text is enlivened with hyperlinks and photographs.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended because this lesson uses one of the great novels of all time, Feodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" as its text. Specifically, it looks at the author's use of split personalities or split characters in several of the main figures of the novel. In the process, students discover that a careful study of the characters in a literary classic will yield important clues to a clearer understanding of the novel as a whole. Designed for grades 11-12. Produced by the Discovery Channel.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, April 2002; updated August 2003.

Produced by Sparknotes, this website is recommended as a guide to Uncle Vanya. Topics and materials include the whole text of the work, along with the following additional features: context; plot overview; character list; analysis of major characters; themes; motifs and symbols; key facts; study questions and essay topics; quiz; and suggestions for further reading. Be aware of the only negative feature of this website are the annoying pop-up advertisements.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Although Pasternak was primarily a poet, his novel Dr. Zhivago won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. This website is recommended as a study guide for the novel. Topics and materials include the full text of the novel, as well the following sections: Context; Characters; Summary; Analysis; Study Questions; Further Reading. Produced by Sparknotes.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002, updated August 2003.

Produced by the Glencoe Literature Library, this twenty-two page study guide is recommended to supplement a reading of the Nobel Prize winning novel. Be aware that the guide, which can be downloaded via Acrobat Reader, introduces the book and asks the student to analyze what he or she has read after completing each chapter. Very impressive.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a one-volume collection of Russian literature. Arrangement of the selections is chronological and each section places the literary works in their historical context and notes later cultural resonances. Following each text is an introductory guide to primary and secondary sources, including available aesthetic transformations of the work, its subjects, and its motifs in film, video, musical recordings, and art collections. These listings helpfully emphasize Russian rather than non- Russian responses in the arts (e.g. Sergei Bondarchuk's film adaptation of War and Peace rather than the American version). Professor Rzhevsky is in the Russian department at SUNY, Stony Brook. Available from Amazon.com for $40.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a highly readable account of the entire sweep of Russian literature and the fine arts which is accessible to the non-specialist. Available from Amazon.com as a used book, both in hardback and paperback editions at different prices.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended because it features recent essays by prominent scholars, in which works by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Bulgakov, Nabokov, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, and many others are described and discussed. There is a chronology and guide to further reading. All quotations are in English. A valuable guide for students, scholars, and anyone interested in the Russian novel. Available in both used and new condition from Amazon.com for prices starting about $7.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended as a standard reference work written by a leading scholar. The book is a survey of Russian literature from its beginnings in the eleventh century to modern times. The author places the development of Russian literature in the context of Russian social and political developments and religious and philosophic thought. The literature covered includes early folklore, the medieval literatures, the dissident and emigre writing after the revolution, and the realist fiction of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy, to the dissident literary movement that followed Stalin`s death. Availability; apparently out of print.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, May 2002; updated August 2003.

Recommended because the author has retold five of the most famous Russian fairy tales in contemporary English. The tales are woven together by the cat Koshka, a wise old story-telling cat, who is narrating to a banished Tsaritsa and are accompanied by full-color, full-page illustrations, also done by Mayhew. Suitable for elementary school age students. Available from Indiana University Russian and East European Studies Institute.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Documentary video. Recommended for perspectives on Anna Akhmatova (1888-1966), Russian poet adored by her countrymen and called by them "the soul of our time." Her life and work bridged the country's Tsarist and Revolutionary periods. Refusing to lend her prestige to Stalin's rule, she was expelled from the Soviet Writers' Union and for years suffered desperately. This program presents an overview of her life and work by Irene Moore, a founder of the American Stanislavsky Theater, who recites Akhmatova's poetry in Russian; and two academics who have written extensively on Akhmatova: Samuel Driver, professor at Brown University, and Irene Kirk, professor at the University of Connecticut. Also featured are many photographs of Akhmatova and her world. Kirk, one of the last Westerners to see the poet alive, tells of their meeting and of Akhmatova's secret book in her Moscow library where she kept notes of things she wanted to remember (28 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $90.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

Recommended because this video examines Russian history from the early nineteenth century to the present through the eyes of some of its major writers, including Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova, and Solzhenitsyn. Availibility: May be borrowed free of charge from Indiana University’s Russian and East European Studies Institute.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a video biography of the Russian writer. "I could not have invented my life better than it invented itself .... All I had to do was take possession of it to write about it." So says Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Laureate who has lived the terrible hardships of his landmark novels. In this gripping program, key figures such as Andrei Vassilievsky, the editor of Novy Mir; Nikita Struve, the first publisher of The Gulag Archipelago; and Solzhenitsyn himself, in a rare interview, discuss the events that have both stimulated and shaped a perilous lifetime of writing. Extracts from Archipelago and The Oak and the Calf drive home the harsh realities of life in the U.S.S.R. during the Stalin and Brezhnev regimes (49 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $150.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

Recommended as a portrait of Nobel prize-winning poet, essayist and controversial former dissident Joseph Brodsky which includes an overview of his troubled life in the Soviet Union, his emigration to the U.S. and his devotion to American literature, and is full of examples of both his poetry and his critical essays. Avalibility: May be borrowed free of charge from the Harvard University National Resource Center for Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian with English subtitles. Recommended as a faithful rendition of the Dostoevsky novel, produced in Russia. Subtitles are white and at times are difficult to read (black & white, 220 min). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $30.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Considered the first modern novel, Crime and Punishment is both a compelling psychodrama and an unrelenting examination of modern humankind. This video is recommended because it skillfully interweaves riveting dramatizations of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterpiece with Notes from the Underground and the autobiographical Memoirs from the House of the Dead. Penetrating observations are provided by Professor John Jones, of Oxford University, who scrutinizes the merciless introspection inherent in these works (59 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $150.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian with English subtitles. Recommended as the film version (on video) of the Peter Tchaikovsky opera based on the work by Alexander Pushkin. Directed by Roman Tikhomirov, with Bolshoi Theatre and Opera staff, cast includes Ariadna Shengelaya as Tatiana (sung by Galina Vshnevskaya) and Vadim Medvedev as Onegin (sung by Yevgeni Kibkalo). Filmed in Leningrad and the surrounding countryside (108 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Three part documentary on Russian art and culture, written and hosted by James Billington, Librarian of Congress, and author of The Icon and the Axe, a classic text on Russian culture. In Part 2, Russian architecture is examined, with a focus on St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. More importantly for our purposes, the part two is recommended because it also looks at the writings of Gogol, who revealed the human suffering behind Russia's "Facade of Power." His Dead Souls first inspired 19th-century political radicals, then Soviet dissidents, and still influences Russian artists today (60 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $30.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Animated, part of the "Rabbit Ears" series of children's stories. Recommended because this is a video version of one of the most popular Russian fairy tales. In particular, Firebird is a Russian legend about an archer named Ivan and his inseperable companion, the Horse of Power. When Ivan brings a golden feather from the Firebird to the Tsar, he is ordered to present the entire bird, or lose his life. Then he is commanded to retrieve the princess Vassilisa from the end of the earth so that the Tsar might marry her. When the archer Ivan falls in love with the princess, he and the Horse of Power must find a way to thwart the Tsar. Narrated by Susan Sarandon, original music by Mark Isham, animation done in Russia (30 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biographical account of Aleksandr Blok, poet and dramatist, and greatest of the Russian symbolists. He lived from 1880 to 1821. His most famous works include The Twelve, Scythians, Verses about the Lady Beautiful, and Homeland (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biographical account of Alexander Pushkin, Russia's most venerated writer. He lived from 1799 to 1837. His most famous works include Eugene Onegin, Ruslan and Ludmila, Boris Godunov, and The Queen of Spades (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biographical account of Anton Chekhov, Russian short-story writer and dramatist who lived from 1860 to 1904. His most famous works include The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biographical account of the Soviet poet and Nobel Prize winning author who lived from 1890 to 1960. His Doctor Zhivago was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

n English. Recommended as a biographical account of Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the world's greatest novelists. He lived from 1821 to 1881. His most famous works include The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Possessed (25 min). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biography of the Russian novelist (b. 1828, d. 1910) which focuses on his personal life rather than this literary works. Superficial at times, this video does however take the viewer to the places in Russia where Tolstoy lived and worked and could serve as a good introduction to the writer's troubled life (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biographical account of the novelist and playwright and founder of Socialist Realism. Gorky was born in 1868 and died in 1936. His most famous works include Mother, The Lower Depths, In the World, and The Gorky Trilogy (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Recommended as a biographical account of the foremost Bolshevik poet in the early Soviet era. Born in 1893, Mayakovsky committed suicide in 1930. His most famous works include A Cloud in Trousers, The Backbone Flute, Ode to Revolution, and Left March (25 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian with English subtitles. Recommended as a classic short story by Chekhov that has been made into an excellent film. This is the story of a man and a woman, both already married, who fall in love while vacationing in turn of the century Yalta. Directed by Josef Heifitz, stars Iya Savvina and Alexei Batalov (black & white, 89 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $30.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. Documentary. Recommended as a biography of the emigre Russian writer. Relatives, friends, and professional associates examine the life and works of the Russian-born novelist and critic. Nabokov, who began his literary career as a poet, is perhaps best known for his controversial work on Nikolai Gogol. Writing extensively both in Russian and English, his intricate, stylish literary effects and unorthodox structure are apparent in works including Pale Fire and The Gift. Excerpts from these and other novels reinforce the core thesis of his entire body of fiction: the problem of art itself, presented in various figurative disguises. BBC production (53 min). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $90.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian. Recommended as the cartoon version of the Russian fable by the same name. A handsome and kind prince must overcome numerous obstacles to reverse the spell that has transformed a princess into a frog. Directed by M. Tsekhanovskii. Also included on this tape is "V nekotorom tsarstve." Collection number 37 in the Soyuzmul'tfil'm series. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu); not clear if it is still available commercially.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian with English subtitles. Recommended as a good Mosfilm version of Pushkin fairytale. Presents authentic 12th century Russian costumes and weaponry. Story of medieval prince's attempt to rescue his love who has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer (two parts) (140 min). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), but no longer available commercially.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

Available in Russian only or in Russian with English subtitles. Another recommended drama in film version based on a story ("Drama na okhote") by Chekhov. The story of a magistrate who, unable to admit his love for a woodsman's daughter, watches as she marries an estate manager and falls into a loveless affair with the estate's owner, a decadent count. Directed by Emil Loteanu, stars Galya Belyaeva, Oleg Yankovsky, Kirill Lavrov, and Leonid Markov (105 min). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), but no longer available commercially.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian with English subtitles. Recommended as a biography of the late 19th century writer. Directed by Sergei Gerasimov, stars Nikolai Eremenko and Marina Ustimenko (103 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $60.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In English. This video is recommended because Marina Tsvetayeva was one of the great poets of the 20th century and a contemporary of Akhmatova, Pasternak, Mandelstam, and Mayakovsky. She lived through World War I, the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Moscow Famine, and then in exile in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, and internal exile back in the Soviet Union. Determined to remain apolitical, she became a victim of her convictions. Her husband became an NKVD agent in Paris and her daughter a staunch Communist. She was shunned by the Russian émigré community. Despite her famous affairs, she was devoted to her husband and followed him back to Russia where she was sent into internal exile and committed suicide at the age of 49. This docudrama includes archival footage of the times and places that provided the backdrop of her life; readings in Russian and English of her poems, diaries, and letters; dramatized scenes; and interviews with key writers, biographers, and translators of her work (56 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $150.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian with English subtitles. Highly recommended as a film version of the Tolstoy novel. Five years in the making, this grand adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic won the 1968 Oscar for Best Foreign Film. With its cast of thousands and virtually unlimited budget, it vividly portrays Russia during the Napoloeonic era from 1805 to 1812, including the spectacular Battle of Borodino. Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, stars Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Ludmilla Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk (as Pierre), and Anastasia Vertinskaya (403 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $100.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.

In Russian and English. Highly recommended for a taste of the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko reading his poems (including Babi Yar, The City of Yes and No) in Russian with English translations (read by OSU graduate students Kristin Peterson and Jeff Holdeman). Introduction by Professor Irene Masing-Delic. Performance at Ohio State University on February 12, 1998 (90 minutes). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or write to Keisel.1@osu.edu), but not available commercially.
Reviewed by Bill Wolf, August 2003.