Originally published in 1996, this collection of fascinating essays by leading western and Russian specialists gives an overview of key issues in Russian women's writing and of important representations of women by men, between 1600 and the present. This volume contributes to the contemporary feminist project of rediscovering many hitherto unjustly neglected Russian women writers and sheds further light on the literary construction of women's identity by Russian men. It combines a study of the history and biography of women writers with close readings of literary texts, and explores certain controversial issues in Russian women's literary studies such as whether there is a separate women's literary tradition in Russia, whether the treatment of the woman question by Russian male writers reflected women's interests and experience, and whether a feminist reinterpretation of Russian women's literature is possible or even desirable.