{"product_id":"first-words-on-dostoevskys-introductions-9781618114822","title":"First Words: On Dostoevsky's Introductions","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDostoevsky attached introductions to his most challenging narratives, including \u003cem\u003eNotes from the House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, The Devils, The Brothers Karamazov\u003c\/em\u003e, and “A Gentle Creature.” Despite his clever attempts to call his readers’ attention to these introductions, they have been neglected as an object of study for over 150 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat oversight is rectified in \u003cem\u003eFirst Words\u003c\/em\u003e, the first systematic study of Dostoevsky’s introductions. Using Genette’s typology of prefaces and Bakhtin’s notion of multiple voices, Lewis Bagby reveals just how important Dostoevsky’s first words are to his fiction. Dostoevsky’s ruses, verbal winks, and backward glances indicate a lively and imaginative author at earnest play in the field of literary discourse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA uniquely refreshing study of Dostoevsky's complex and little understood introductions, Lewis Bagby’s \u003ci\u003eFirst Words: On Dostoevsky's Introductions\u003c\/i\u003e, is a groundbreaking new work. Through a close reading and utilizing Genette's typology, Bagby provides insights into narratology and authorial voice and discovers that Dostoevsky's fictional introductory commentaries create frames essential in understanding the multifacetedness of his novelistic characters and plots. A required reading for literary scholars which can be of a significant interest to all readers of Dostoevsky's fiction. -- Gene Fitzgerald, Emeritus Professor of Russian, University of Utah\u003cbr\u003e\"Drawing attention to a surprisingly neglected aspect of Dostoevsky’s works, Lewis Bagby deftly reveals how Dostoevsky used introductions—or prologues or forewords or prefaces—to subtly indicate themes and structures of many of his most important writings, such as \u003ci\u003eNotes from the Underground\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Brothers Karamazov\u003c\/i\u003e. Taking that cue, Bagby offers rich and newly insightful interpretations of Dostoevsky’s works large and small, alerting readers how to read them from Dostoevsky’s point of view. Bagby’s reading of the introduction to “A Gentle Creature” is nothing short of a revelation. The book will likely surprise, and will indeed enlighten, many a reader.\" -- Elizabeth Cheresh Allen, Bryn Mawr College\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNote on Transliteration\u003cp\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Introduction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Chapter 1: Model Prefaces from Russian Literature\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Chapter 2: Dostoevsky’s Initial Post-Siberian Work\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Chapter 3: Playing with Authorial Identities\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Chapter 4: Monsters Roam the Text\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Chapter 5: Re-Contextualizing Introductions\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Chapter 6: Anxious to the End\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Conclusion\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Bibliography\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Academic Studies Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51359751078231,"sku":"9781618114822","price":66.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781618114822.jpg?v=1754125601","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/first-words-on-dostoevskys-introductions-9781618114822","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}