The quintessential guide to Russia's vibrant and influential Silver Age, now in paperback In this lavishly illustrated, elegantly written volume, John E. Bowltsheds new light on Russia's Silver Age, the period of artisticrenaissance that flourished as Imperial Russia's power waned.Much of the creative energy could be attributed to the Symbolistmovement, whose proponents sought to transcend the barriers ofbourgeois civility and whose unconventional lifestyles led somecritics to label them Decadents and Degenerates. But, as SergeiDiaghilev declared, theirs was not a moral or artistic decline, but a voyage of inner discovery and a reinvention of a national culture.