Arguments of Russian Literary Critics

The book aims to answer the question of what critics praise and what they criticize in writers. The study systematizes and analyzes the arguments that critics have used throughout the history of Russian literature to justify their judgments on why a particular literary text is good or bad. Each chapter is dedicated to one type of argument that justifies the merits or faults of a text in terms of the presence or absence of certain values: reliability, integrity, brevity, emotional expressiveness, quality of character depiction, etc. The study is based on hundreds of literary-critical texts written throughout the entire history of literary criticism in Russia – from the late 18th to the early 21st century.

The book may be useful for those interested in the history of Russian literature and especially for professional literary critics. It can also be used as a textbook for students of philological disciplines.