There is in England no complete translation of Pushkin. This is much the same as though there were in Russia no complete translation of Shakespeare or Milton. I do not mean by this that Pushkin is as great a poet as Shakespeare or Milton, but I do mean that he is the most national and the most important of all Russian writers. There is no translation of Saltykov, the greatest of Russian satirists; there is no complete translation of Leskov, one of her greatest novelists, while Russian criticism and philosophy, as well as almost the whole of Russian poetry, is completely beyond the ken of England. The knowledge of what Russian civilisation, with its glorious fruit of literature, consists in, is still a sealed book so far as England is concerned. M. B. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I THE ORIGINS 9 II THE NEW AGE--PUSHKIN 30 III LERMONTOV 101 IV THE AGE OF PROSE 126 V THE EPOCH OF REFORM 159 VI TOLSTOY AND DOSTOYEVSKY 196 VII THE SECOND AGE OF POETRY 226 CONCLUSION 243 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 251 INDEX 254 _The following volumes of kindred interest have already been published in the Library:_ 27. English Literature: Mediæval. By W. P. Ker. 43. English Literature: Modern. G. H. Mair. 35. Landmarks of French Literature. G. L. Strachey. 65. The Literature of Germany. Prof. J. G. Robertson, Ph.D. AN OUTLINE OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE CHAPTER I THE ORIGINS