Bethea David. The Shape of Apocalypse in Modern Russian Fiction

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. — 328 p. — ISBN10: 0691605459; ISBN13: 978-0691605456 — (Princeton Legacy Library. Book 931)Bethea sees as his tasks: to trace the theme of the Apocalypse...in five Russian novels: Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Bely's Petersburg, Platonov's Chevengur, Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, and Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago; to show how generalizations about the time-honored 'messianic' and 'eschatological' impulse in the Russian historical character shed light on the narrative structure of these works; and to demonstrate that 'apocalyptic' fictions... countermand Socialist realism and its vision of secular paradise. He does an excellent job with all three.A Note on the TransliterationIntroduction: Myth, History, Plot, Steed
The Idiot: Historicism Arrives at the Station
Petersburg: The Apocalyptic Horseman, the Unicorn, and the Verticality of Narrative
Chevengur: On the Road with the Bolshevik Utopia
The Master and Margarita: History as Hippodrome
Doctor Zhivago: The Revolution and the Red Crosse KnightAfterword: The End and BeyondWorks Cited