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In prose, and especially in narrative prose, the poetic system of repetitive parallel elements is less conspicuous than in verse composition. And yet the poetry of narrative prose is likewise brought about by elaborate systems of parallels and equivalences that prompt the reader to transform the true-to-life representation of events and characters into higher, symbolic levels of meaning. The readings in this book explore the functions of parallelistic patterning in narrative Russian literature: from the figural interpretation of early East Slavic hagiography — the juxtaposition of saints’ lives with the gospel narratives about the life of Christ — to the deployment of related forms of parabolic projection in the works the great nineteenth-century Russian novelists. It is the uncovering of such patterns that provides access to the symbolic dimension of the Russian novel.

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ibility between efficiency and central planning-with grim implications for the future. In the linal chapter, Scweryn Bialcr writes on political culture, popular mentalities, institutions, legitimacy, and interethnic politics (with an inadvertent slip on p. 267 about the size of the non-Russian Slavic population). He concludes on a positive note "that despite the impression that the popular legitimacy of the Soviet regime has declined, especially in the 1980s, the regime still enjoys both significant popular support and, as important, the absence of a strong opposition" (p. 267). Thank you, Terry Thompson and Richard Sheldon; and a long life to you, Vera Dunham!

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