Russian literature has always been inseparably linked to Russian history. D. S. Mirsky, in dealing with this fact, constantly keeps in mind the ever colorful and changing aspects of the one in discussing the other. With a keen and penetrating sense of values, fortified by a style sharp enough to carry every nuance of his meaning, he explores one of the most complex and fascinating literatures of the world.Sound in judgment, luminescent, and exquisitely written, Mirsky's work is essential reading for anyone interested in Russian literature. A History of Russian Literature: From Its Beginnings to 1900 contains all of the author's A History of Russian Literature and the first two chapters of his Contemporary Russian Literature. This single volume covers the beginning of Russian fiction, the Age of Classicism, the Age of Gogol, and the poets, journalists, novelists, and playwrights of the Age of Realism.

德·斯·米爾斯基（1890-1939），是著名的俄國文學史傢、批評傢和文藝學傢，同時也是重要的俄國政論作傢和社會活動傢。他齣身顯赫，其父曾任俄國內務部長。他於1920年流亡英倫，任教於倫敦大學國王學院，在授課同時用英文撰寫瞭多部著作，如《現代俄國文學》（1925）、《普希金》（1926）、《俄國史》（1928）、《俄國社會史》（1931）等，其中享有盛譽的就是這部《俄國文學史》，米爾斯基也藉此成為英語世界乃至整個西歐學界最負盛名的俄國文學專傢。1932年，米爾斯基在高爾基的幫助下返迴蘇聯，1937年因間諜罪被捕，1939年死於位於蘇聯遠東地區的集中營。其充滿突轉的生活經曆和堅忍不拔的文學活動構成瞭當時文壇的一段傳奇，甚或那一代俄國知識分子之命運的一個縮影和一種象徵。