For most of the twentieth century Russia existed under some form of dictatorship--with the paradoxical effect that in Russia literature continued to matter as it did in few other countries. The writers of modern Russia have possessed the power to enrage tyrants, to inspire allegiance and devotion in their readers, and to speak for the suffocating conscience of their motherland, even when they are addressing the least political of issues. At their best, their writing is informed by the exhilarated awareness of that potential--and the responsibility that goes with it.
