Frederick H. White

Memoirs and Madness examines memoir as a literary genre, investigates the creation of Leonid Andreev's posthumous legacy by his contemporaries, and explores the possibility that Andreev, Russia's leading literary figure at the beginning of the twentieth century, suffered from mental illness. Frederick White's primary focus is A Book About Leonid Andreev (1922), the most important collection of memoirs dedicated to the Russian author, presented here in the first English translation. The agendas of the memoirists resulted in portraits that have influenced how Andreev is read and spoken about to the present day. White pays special attention to Andreev's history of mental illness, which the memoirists described with vague terms such as "creative energy" or "inner turmoil." Past scholarship has focused on philosophical and sociological factors in the author's life but this concentration on his mental health provides a fruitful approach to deciphering the literary portraits.

Leonid Andreev Through the Prism of the Literary Portrait

Memoirs and Madness

"Memoirs and Madness examines memoir as a literary genre and investigates how Leonid Andreev's posthumous legacy was influenced by the writing of his contemporaries. A Book About Leonid Andreev (1922), which includes the work of renowned Russian authors such as Belyi, Blok, Chukovskii, Chulkov, Gor'kii, Teleshov, Zaitsev, and Zamiatin, has had an impact on how Andreev has been read and spoken about since his death. While past scholarship has focused on the philosophical and sociological factors in Andreev's life, Frederick White pays special attention to the author's history of mental illness, described by the memoirists with vague terms such as "creative energy" or "inner turmoil."" --Résumé de l'éditeur.

Yuri Leving

Literature is not only about aesthetics, but also almost equally about the successful marketing of an author and his literary works. Ever since the two great Russian authors, Leonid Andreev and Vladimir Nabokov, created their own literary capital, cultural merchants have been preoccupied with the promotion of their respective posthumous legacies, maintaining the intricate network of personal interests that drive the preservation of literary reputations.

Frederick H. White

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