Princess Dashkova, a vocal advocate of Russian culture and the only female president ever of the Russian Academy of Sciences, had the finest European education. Sulla base di questa premessa, egli intende dimostrare l’esistenza di “un temperamento russo, un insieme di costumi e di credenze innate” che sarebbero il filo rosso della storia e della mentalità di questo popolo. Un libro de profundo conocimiento de la historia y cultura rusa, contado de manera cercana y amena, de lectura casi obligatoria para entender a los rusos. Figes's book takes its title from a famous scene in War and Peace, where the young and beautiful Countess Natasha hears a popular melody and, instinctively aware of the peasant rhythm and steps, begins to dance to it. Tuttavia per chi, come me, si avvicina alla cultura russa per la prima volta, “La Danza di Nataša” rappresenta uno straordinario viaggio alla scoperta di costumi, storie e vicende umane di un popolo che non possiamo esimerci dal vedere come altro, irrimediabilmente fisso in un mito, in una sua esoticità.

Figes does a good job of pushing less conspicuous cultural trends to the fore, examining their more recent development in a clearly written and engaging way. Dediğim gibi salt bilgi içerikli olmasından dolayı kitap hakkındaki düşüncelerimi bölümler halinde spoiler korkusu olmadan vermek istiyorum, bütününe yorum yapmak zor çünkü bölümden bölüme yazarın tutumunun değiştiğini fark ettim. Kidding, but yeah, I've grown to appreciate the cultural life of our once and future nemesis because, honestly, Russia has an extraordinarily tragic history (and present), but a rich cultural legacy.This book also focused more on famous Russian aristocrats, novelists, poets and composes, while ignoring the lives of the "little people". Despite Russia's immense size and diversity it is this unique temperament that has held together a people scattered from Europe to Asia and enabled them to survive in the face of their own fearful history. Other interesting personalities described include Diaghilev of Ballets Russes and Akhmatova, the famous poetess. As I have said above, the Soviets eventually harked back to the golden age of culture from the mid-late 19th Century.

Russia's millionaires with their Mercedes and fur coats behave like the extravagant nobles of old; and the new social hierarchy is upholstered by snobbery: the Russian equivalents of Tatler and Vogue are supremely oblivious of the nation's poorer members. Russians - the "ordinary" ones who figure prominently earlier in the book - went on having an impact on the intelligentsia. Figes' Revolutionary Russia was so biased that it was almost humorous (see my review here: https://www. Their souls ate and slept, they felt cold and pain, and they often came back to the family household, where by custom they took up residence behind the stove. The great German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was interviewed during one of her master classes teaching German Lieder to foreign singers.CULTURAL BIASWriting an historical textbook is a complicated task, in no small part because it is an incredibly political action. As in his People's Tragedy, he takes several individuals and explains how they reacted to the vast historical changes of their lifetimes. Yet generally, by using Aesopian language, artists could let their followers know what they thought - and they had more freedom than under the Soviet regime founded in October 1917.

But thankfully, apart from the fact that Orlando Figes is known for using sockpuppets to trash his critics and competitors, this is a pretty solid introductory tract on Russian history. Celé je to potiahnuté krutosťou, smútkom, najmä časti o Achmatovovej v Dome fontán a Cvetajevovej, dvoch veľkých ruských poetiek zomletých v mlyne Sovietskeho zväzu. The only bone I'd pick is that Figes stops around 1962: I'd have been very interested in his account continuing into the great age of satire and rise of pop music in the late Soviet years.

Non può certo essere contenuta in una biblioteca, come gli “otto volumi sottili” che gli esuli mettevano nel loro bagaglio. Bununla birlikte aydın kesimin köylülere, sade halka yönelmesi ve eserlerinde bunları konu edilmesi üzerinde durulmuş. For the period from roughly 1760 to 1960 it contains histories of Russian literature, painting, ballet and classical music.

I'm now contentedly exploring Zamoyski's 1812 about the fateful march on Moscow, listening to Glinka and developing a real appreciation of Pushkin, thanks in no small part to Mr Figes wonderful book. The first Russian nesting doll set was designed in 1890 by Sergey Malyutin and carved by Vasily Zvyozdochkin. Kniha začína stavbou Petrohradu, ruských Benátok, a cez pasáže o náboženstve, etnografii sa dostáva k Dostojevskému, Čechovovi a Tolstému. While this theme wasn't necessarily steady throughout, it was emergent in several areas; especially when reflecting how the Russian expatriates in the 20th century sorely missed their homeland.Their upbringing was left by their parents to peasant servants who taught them lullabies, superstitions and the festivals of the religious calendar. Each chapter jumps back and forth between a number of highly important characters, placing them in their cultural and historical setting with great insight.