From Orientalism to Cultural Capital: The Myth of Russia in British Literature of the 1920s

From Orientalism to Cultural Capital presents a fascinating account of the wave of Russophilia that pervaded British literary culture in the early twentieth century. The authors bring a new approach to the study of this period, exploring the literary phenomenon through two theoretical models from the social sciences: Orientalism and the notion of «cultural capital» associated with Pierre Bourdieu. Examining the responses of leading literary practitioners who had a significant impact on the institutional transmission of Russian culture, they reassess the mechanics of cultural dialogism, mediation and exchange, casting new light on British perceptions of modernism as a transcultural artistic movement and the ways in which the literary interaction with the myth of Russia shaped and intensified these cultural views. Olga Soboleva teaches Comparative Literature at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research interests are in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian and European culture. Her recent publications include The Only Hope of the World: George Bernard Shaw and Russia (2012), The Silver Mask: Harlequinade in the Symbolist Poetry of Blok and Belyi (2008) and articles on Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Nabokov, Chekhov, Boris Akunin and Victor Pelevin. Angus Wrenn has taught Comparative Literature at the London School of Economics and Political Science since 1997. His most recent publications include The Only Hope of the World: George Bernard Shaw and Russia (2012), Henry James and the Second Empire (2009) and articles on the reception of Ford Madox Ford and Henry James in Europe.