The book is devoted to «contraband» literature from the USSR that was first published abroad over the Soviet period. The volume explores
tamizdat
as a literary practice and political institution from a variety of perspectives and situates it in the context of its domestic counterparts:
gosizdat
and
samizdat
. The Contributions to the volume range from first-hand accounts, archival explorations, and close readings of the texts vis-à-vis the histories of their first publications and reception abroad, to theoretical articles on tamizdat as «textual embodiment» and transgression. The volume lets world history speak through Russian literary manuscripts on their way from the drawer to publication abroad, and «repatriation» back to Russia in a printed form.