By Fables Alone

"... Zorin commands a broad range of literary and historical literature and his essays give depth to the selected themes concerning the reigns of Catherine II and Alexander I... [T]he difficult translation is generally skillful and it makes available for Anglophones a more profound examination of historical events discussed." - Slavic and East European Journal, 59.2 (Summer 2015) "The work-a collection of Zorin's writing about the intersection of state ideology and literature in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Russia-was hailed as a crucial text in Russian literary and historical studies upon its initial publication in 2001. Since then it has become required reading for students of Imperial Russian history and culture...The careful translations ably preserve the nuances of the original Russian-no small feat, and one that speaks volumes about its translators. This English edition will bring Zorin's work to a broader audience, enabling more researchers and students to engage with his seminal discussion of the Russian state's ideological models and their transformation into cultural symbols during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." -- Katherine Bowers, University of British Columbia, Modern Language Review, Volume 111, Part 2 (April 2016