The Novellas of Valentin Rasputin

Valentin Rasputin is, by popular and critical acclaim, one of the most thought-provoking writers in the Soviet Union today. The Novellas of Valentin Rasputin is the first comprehensive analysis of the prose style of this major Russian author. This study introduces the reader to the four novellas for which Rasputin is best known, works which were written between 1967 and 1976 and which represent an important period in Rasputin's career. Here they are treated as a unified corpus through an examination of structure, plot, thematics, characterization, use of language and other elements of style. The study is made current by a discussion of Rasputin's most recent works and it identifies features of continuity and change between the earlier novellas and Rasputin's prose of the 1980s.