Background
Terras, Victor was born on January 21, 1921 in Poltsamaa, Estonia. Son of Evald and Elena (Rosenberger) Terras. came to the United States, 1952, naturalized, 1956.
( "A substantial contribution both to Dostoevsky scholars...)
"A substantial contribution both to Dostoevsky scholarship and to scholarship on the novel. . . . The first book in quite a while to address itself to all of Dostoevsky's opus, certainly a bold move that only someone of Terras's stature could pull off."-Gary Rosenshield, University of Madison-Wisconsin Admirers have praised Fedor Dostoevsky as the Russian Shakespeare, while his critics have slighted his novels as merely cheap amusements. In this stimulating critical introduction to Dostoevsky's fiction, literary scholar Victor Terras asks readers to draw their own conclusions about the nineteenth-century Russian writer. Discussing psychological, political, mythical, and philosophical approaches, Terras deftly guides readers through the range of diverse and even contradictory interpretations of Dostoevsky's rich novels. Moving through the novelist's career, Terras presents a general analysis of the novel at issue, each chapter focusing on a particular aspect of Dostoevsky's art. He probes the form and style of Crime and Punishment, and explores the ambiguity of The Brothers Karamazov. Terras emphasizes the "markedness," of Dostoevsky's novels, their wealth of literary devices such as irony, literary allusions, scenic effects, puns, and witticisms. Terras conveys the vital contradictions and ambiguities of the novels. In this informative, engaging literary study, Terras brings Dostoevsky and his art to life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0299160548/?tag=2022091-20
( The text of The Brothers Karamazov is removed from ...)
The text of The Brothers Karamazov is removed from English-speaking readers today not only by time but also by linguistic and cultural boundaries. Victor Terras’s companion work provides readers with a richer understanding of the Dostoevsky novel as the expression of a philosophy and a work of art. In his introduction, Terras outlines the genesis, main ideas, and structural peculiarities of the novel as well as Dostoevsky’s political, philosophical, and aesthetic stance. The detailed commentary takes the reader through the novel, clarifying aspects of Russian life, the novel’s sociopolitical background, and a number of polemic issues. Terras identifies and explains hundreds of literary and biblical quotations and allusions. He discusses symbols, recurrent images, and structural stylistic patterns, including those lost in English translation.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0299083144/?tag=2022091-20
(This book presents sixteen leading poets of the Silver Ag...)
This book presents sixteen leading poets of the Silver Age of Russian poetry, so called only because the designation of "Golden Age" already belonged to the age of Pushkin. In fact, the Silver Age produced more poets of undoubted greatness, originality and universal appeal than the Golden Age. All of the poets introduced, with Innokenty Annensky, a symbolist, the oldest and the first to die (1856-1909), Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), a futurist, the youngest, and the acmeist Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) the last to die, were each in his or her own way "modernists" in poetic technique, world-view, and aesthetics. This book is addressed mainly to the reader who does not read Russian, but takes an interest, academic or otherwise, in Russian poetry and would like to learn more about it than could be learned from an anthology or from a history of Russian literature. Enough poems by each poet are presented to give the reader an idea of the poet's main topics, devices, and idiosyncratic poetic vision. Enough biographic, literary, and contingent background is provided to facilitate the understanding of each poem.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3931828719/?tag=2022091-20
(This work presents a survey of Russian literature from it...)
This work presents a survey of Russian literature from its beginnings in the 11th century to modern times. Victor Terras argues that Russian literature has reflected, defined, and shaped the nation's beliefs and goals, and he sets his survey against a background of social and political developments and religious and philosophic thought. Terras traces a rich literary heritage that encompasses Russian folklore of the 11th and 13th centuries, medieval literature that in style and substance drew on the Byzantine tradition and literature of the 17th and 18th centuries, when Russia passed through a succession of literary schools - neoclassicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, and realism - imported from the West. Terras then moves on to the masterful realist fiction of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoi during the second half of the 19th century, showing how it was a catalyst for the social and cultural advances following the reforms of Alexander II. In discussing the period preceding the revolution of 1917. Terras links the literary movements with parallel developments in the theatre, music and the visual arts, explaining that these all placed Russia in the forefront of European modernism. Terras divides Russian literature after the revolution into emigre and Soviet writing, and he demonstrates how the latter acted as a propaganda tool of the Communist party. He concludes his survey with the dissident movement that followed Stalin's death, arguing that the movement again made literature a leader in the struggle for freedom of thought, genuine relevance, and communion with Western culture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300049714/?tag=2022091-20
(Admirers have praised Fedor Dostoevsky as the Russian Sha...)
Admirers have praised Fedor Dostoevsky as the Russian Shakespeare, while his critics have slighted his novels as merely cheap amusements. In this critical introduction to Dostoevsky's fiction, Victor Terras asks readers to draw their own conclusions about the 19th-century Russian writer. Discussing psychological, political, mythical and philosophical approaches, Terras deftly guides readers through the range of diverse and even contradictory interpretations of Dostoevsky's rich novels. Moving through the novelist's career, Terras presents a general analysis of the novel at issue, each chapter focusing on a particular aspect of Dostoevsky's art. He probes the form and style of "Crime and Punishment", and explores the ambiguity of "The Brothers Karamazov". Terras emphasizes the "markedness" of Dostoevsky's novels, their wealth of literary devices such as irony, literary allusions, scenic effects, puns and witticisms. Terras conveys the vital contradictions and ambiguities of the novels. In this informative, engaging literary study, he brings Dostoevsky and his art to life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0092IWATU/?tag=2022091-20
(This magisterial work, written by one of the world's fore...)
This magisterial work, written by one of the world's foremost Slavic scholars, presents a survey of Russian literature from its beginning in the eleventh century to modern times. Victor Terras argues eloquently that Russian literature has reflected, defined, and shaped the nation's beliefs and goals, and he sets his survey against a background of social and political developments and religious and philosophic thought. Terras traces a rich literary heritage that encompasses Russian folklore of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, medieval literature that in style and substance drew on the Byzantine tradition, and literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when Russia passed through a succession of literary schools-neoclassicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, and realism-imported from the West. Terras then moves on to the masterful realist fiction of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoi during the second half of the nineteenth century, showing how it was a catalyst for the social and cultural advances following the reforms of Alexander II. In discussing the period preceding the revolution of 1917, Terras links the literary movements with parallel developments in the theater, music, and the visual arts, explaining that these all placed Russia in the forefront of European modernism. Terras divides Russian literature after the revolution into émigré and Soviet writing, and he demonstrates how the latter acted as a propaganda tool of the Communist party. He concludes his survey with the dissident movement that followed Stalin's death, arguing that the movement again made literature a leader in the struggle for freedom of thought, genuine relevance, and communion with Western culture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300059345/?tag=2022091-20
(This first encyclopedia of its kind in English covers ten...)
This first encyclopedia of its kind in English covers ten centuries of Russian literature and includes nearly 1,000 entries by leading scholars. It will be an indispensable guide for students or the general reader. "The Handbook is an Eden for browsers... a dependable, illuminating guide."-Robert Taylor, Boston Globe "A comprehensive survey in one volume of one of the world's richest national literatures. The volume includes entries on authors, genres, literary movements, and period studies, together with reviews of notable journals. The lengthiest entries run to more than 6,000 words, the shortest have been kept to a single paragraph, giving the book value both for ready reference and as a collection of history and criticism."-Booklist "The achievement here is grand, the knowledge collected invaluable."-Theoharis C. Theoharis, Christian Science Monitor "A vast and informative compilation.... The magnificent panorama of Russian literature accumulatively unfolds, from its ancient folklore and earliest written texts... to our present century's structuralism, modernism, and socialist realism."-Gordon McVay, Times Higher Education Supplement "For anyone interested in Russian literature, this new Handbook is the single most useful book to own."-J. Thomas Shaw, Slavic and East European Journal "An indispensable source of concise information for all students of literature for years to come."-Ray Parrott, Philological Quarterly
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300048688/?tag=2022091-20
literature and language professor
Terras, Victor was born on January 21, 1921 in Poltsamaa, Estonia. Son of Evald and Elena (Rosenberger) Terras. came to the United States, 1952, naturalized, 1956.
Master of Philosophy, University Tartu, Estonia, 1942. Doctor of Philosophy, University Chicago, 1963.
Lecturer, U. Tartu, 1943-1944; instructor to associate professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1959-1964; professor Slavic languages, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1965-1966; professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1966-1970; professor Slavic languages and comparative literature, Brown U., Providence, 1970-1988; professor emeritus, Brown U., Providence, since 1988.
(This magisterial work, written by one of the world's fore...)
(This book presents sixteen leading poets of the Silver Ag...)
( The text of The Brothers Karamazov is removed from ...)
(This first encyclopedia of its kind in English covers ten...)
(Admirers have praised Fedor Dostoevsky as the Russian Sha...)
(This work presents a survey of Russian literature from it...)
( "A substantial contribution both to Dostoevsky scholars...)
(Book by Terras, Victor)
Member American Association Advancement Slavic and East European Studies, American Association Teachers Slavic and East European Languages (president 1981-1982), International Dostoevsky Society (vice president since 1983).
Married Rita Schubert, 1951. 1 child, Alexander.