Prostitution in 19th & 20th century literature, esp. Kuprin, Anreev & Blok

[Sarah Barber]

Dear Seelangers,





I am a Ph.D student at Keele University researching the theme of prostitution in Russian literature in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  At the moment I am concentrating on authors such as Chernyshevsky, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Garshin, Chekhov, Andreev, Blok and Kuprin.  I have done a lot of background work on prostitution as a social phenomenon and on the authors mentioned above in general, but have unfortunately found few sources that go into depth about any author’s depictions of, interest in, or concerns about prostitution.



I was wondering if anyone out there knows of any such reference in connection with any of the above authors, but particularly with Kuprin, whose novel ‘Yama’ was clearly a major contribution to the theme, though relatively little seems to have been written about the man or the book.  I’m also especially interested in information about Andreev and Blok, including advice about which of their works are most relevant to the theme, any instances where their depictions of prostitution have been discussed in criticism and any documenting of their personal position on the issue.



Further to this I am still searching for a literary depiction of prostitution from a less well-known author, perhaps written from the female perspective or even by a practicing or reformed prostitute, as I believe this could shed new light on my research.



I would be extremely grateful for any assistance offered.



Thank you in advance.



Sarah Barber



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