Alexander Blok: Selected Poems showcases the artistic nature of Blok through his poems. The book first presents verses from the collection "Ante Lucem" and poems of the 1905 revolution. Verses lifted from the two collections are presented. The poems cover various topics and were accomplished in different time frames. Although portions of the poems are only presented, they have managed to illustrate the creative mind of Blok. The text also highlights the works of Blok in English, French, German, Italian, and Russian. An index of first lines and titles are also presented. The book is a fine reference for students of poetry and researchers interested in the works and contributions of Blok in poetry.

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Lyric Incarnate examines the plays of Aleksandr Blok, the pre-eminent poet of Russian Symbolism and one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Blok's plays have received less attention than his poetry in the West, and this book is the first and only English-language monograph devoted to Blok the playwright. In chronological succession, each of Blok's major plays is examined in detail. Special attention is accorded to Blok's relations with the major directors of his time, particularly Meyerhold and Stanislavsky. Blok's role, for instance, in Meyerhold's formulation of the theatre of the grotesque proved to be critical, and his relation to the Moscow Art Theatre just before the October Revolution helped to define the future course of that theatre. Blok's innovative dramatic technique is carefully studied at each stage in his career, from his earliest "lyric dramas" , such as A Puppet Show and The Stranger, to his great tragedy The Rose and the Cross.

Aleksandr Blok (1880-1921), the leader of the Symbolist Movement, was one of Russia's greatest modern poets. An inspiration to many modern Russian poets well-known in the West, most notably Pasternak, this account of his life is one of the few books on this important poet available in English. A member of the Russian aristocracy, Blok lived through a period in which a traditional world was being destroyed and a new, often alarming utopia was emerging. After years of expressing disdain for politics, he became an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution, changing from a detached observer to a committed servant of the Russian people. This change is reflected in the shift in his work away from his early poetic mysticism to the historical vision of his most famous poem, The Twelve. This account of his life and his art, written by the novelist and autobiographer Nina Berberova, evokes the troubled world of the Russian intelligentsia, their illusions, and their disarray in the face of revolution. Blok's complicated emotional life, his passion for his art, and his public stature are conveyed with economy, elegance, and deep understanding.

ALEXANDER BLOK (1880-1921) is the greatest Russian poet after Pushkin and perhaps the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language. This volume consists of translations of three collections of Blok's verse: Ante Lucem (1898-1900), Verses about the Beautiful Lady (1901-1902), and Crossroads (1902-1904). These poems describe Blok's visions of Sophia, the Beautiful Lady, who appeared to him at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Sophia is the mysterious feminine principle behind all creation; Blok calls her the Mysterious Maiden, the Empress of the Universe, the Eternal Bride, and he sees her in the blue sky and the sky full of stars as well as in the dawns and sunsets of Russia. He identifies the Beautiful Lady with a real girl, Liubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, whom he courts ardently in the woods and meadows of the countryside outside of Moscow as well as in the misty maritime setting of Petersburg.

Jon Stallworthy and Peter France introduce Blok's poetry into English, retaining as much as possible his distinctive form and tone. His early poetry is inspired by mystical experience rather than events that were occurring contemporaneously.

Though the Russian Symbolist movement was dominated by a concern with transcending sex, many of the writers associated with the movement exhibited an intense preoccupation with matters of the flesh. Drawing on poetry, plays, short stories, essays, memoirs, and letters, as well as feminist and psychoanalytic theory, Beyond the Flesh documents the often unexpected form that this obsession with gender and the body took in the life and art of two of the most important Russian Symbolists. Jenifer Presto argues that the difficulties encountered in reading Alexander Blok and Zinaida Gippius within either a feminist or a traditional, binary gendered framework derive not only from the peculiarities of their creative personalities but also from the specific Russian cultural context. Although these two poets engaged in gendered practices that, at times, appeared to be highly idiosyncratic and even incited gossip among their contemporaries, they were not operating in a vacuum. Instead, they were responding to philosophical concepts that were central to Russian Symbolism and that would continue to shape modernism in Russia.