Combining literary theory with textual analysis in a consideration of some of the major texts of Russian modernism, this study reflects on works by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Bely, Mandlestam, Akhmatova, Mayakovsky, Nabokov, and lesser-known Russian writers. The text combines a formalist approach to literature with insights from structuralist and poststructuralist theory. The work argues that memory that is made up of metaphors and images, and that writing itself feeds upon the metaphorical knowledge that makes up memory. It posits that memory is crucial for a proper understanding of the way writing and literature function, and then goes on to consider memory as a thematic concern in much of mainstream 19th-century Russian prose. Bakhtin's idea of intertextuality is examined through considerations of such theoretical concepts as dialogism, mnemotechnics, syncretism, and carnivalization, as well as memory and imitatio.