Saltykov-Shchedrin's "The Golovlyovs": A Critical Companion (AATSEEL)

This companion to M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin's The Golovlyovs opens with a general introduction discussing the work in the context of Saltykov-Shchedrin's oeuvre as well as its place within the Russian literary tradition. Also included are primary sources, background materials, an annotated bibliography, and considerations of the work by leading scholars. A critical look at the Russian gentry from the 1830s to the 1870s, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel The Golovlyovs exposes the insubstantiality of the family as one of the proclaimed bases of Russian social life. In sharp contrast to his contemporaries, including Aksakov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Goncharov, Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the gentry family, as represented by the Golovlyovs, as disintegrating, corrupted by its status and way of life.The book, the sixth in the AATSEEL Critical Companions to Russian Literature series, begins with a brief sketch of Saltykov-Shchedrin's life and literary career, then goes on to explain the novel's content and characters, including reference to contemporary events relevant to the narrative and discussion of the major points of the novel and its conclusion. An extensive bibliography includes a listing and brief assessment of the various English translations of the novel.