Reyfman (Russian literature, Columbia U.) presents 15 articles written between the early 1990s and now, most of which have been previously published. She has made revisions and translated articles originally published in Russian and has grouped them in four thematic sections, each of which she introduces. The first section, which includes her most recent investigations, concerns the Table of Ranks and how it shaped Russian writers' work. Following are articles on Pushkin, Tolstoy, and, in the last section, several articles that are not tightly united by theme, on Alexey Rzhevsky, Mikhail Murav'ev and Semyon Bobrov, and Leskov's response to Dostoevsky. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)