Introduction: Research Design

Abstract

In this introduction, Pristed explains why the highly obtrusive, but largely ignored, problem of contemporary Russian book design merits attention, and outlines the three parts of her book: a graphic cultural history of fiction publishing in Russia; an analytical, diachronic comparison of editions of classic, popular, and contemporary fiction, respectively; and a presentation of the individual works of contemporary Russian book designers belonging to three different generations. Pristed positions her study of contemporary Russian book design between the disciplines of literary studies, book history, visual studies, and media studies. Entering a much-needed East–West dialogue, Pristed points out fundamental cultural differences in the concept of the book and the book cover. In Western research tradition, the modern book has been defined and described as a trade object made by the agents of an industrialized publishing business. But in (Soviet) Russia, where market mechanisms were temporarily disabled, the research tradition came to rely on a normative approach. Pristed dates this tradition back to the idealized philosophical concept of the book set forth by the Russian religious philosopher Pavel Florenskii and the Nestor of Soviet book graphics Vladimir Favorskii.