This collection of original essays by leading western and Russian specialists gives an overview of key issues in Russian women's writing and of important representations of women by men, between 1600 and the present, exploring the differences between the writing of women and men in Russia. It combines a study of the history and biography of previously neglected women writers with close readings of literary texts, demonstrating that although many Russian women writers have been unjustly disadvantaged and marginalized, their work contains much of interest for contemporary women readers.