Two chapters of this book have appeared in substantially the same form before: chapter one in Forum for Modern Language Studies, vol. Xi, No. 4, 1975 (also in Studies in Twentieth Century Russian Literature, edited by C.J. Barnes, Scottish Academic Press, 1976), and chapter three in Russian Literature, vol. Iv No. 4, 1976. Some overlapping material has also appeared in Andrey Bely. A Critical Review, edited by G. Janecek, Lexington, Kentucky, 1978, in Andrey Bely. Centenary Papers, edited by B. Christa, Amsterdam, 1980, and in Poetry, Prose and Public Opinion of Russia 1850–1950, Essays Presented in Memory of Dr N.E. Andreyev, edited by W.J. Harrison and Avril Pyman (forthcoming).

All translations in the text, unless otherwise indicated, are my own. Where the purpose of a quotation is as well served by an English translation as by the original, I have used a translation only. Where the intention was primarily to show features of Bely's Russian that are lost in any translation, I have left the quotation in the original but attached as accurate an English rendering of the sense as I could contrive.

I have incurred many debts in the course of work on this project. It is a matter of deep regret to me that it was not completed and published before the death of Dr N.E. Andreyev, who first led me to the subject and was always tireless in his advice and encouragement.