Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
by:
Orlando Figes (author)
Beginning in the eighteenth century with the building of St. Petersburg and culminating with the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself--its character, spiritual essence, and destiny. Skillfully interweaving the great works--by...
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Beginning in the eighteenth century with the building of St. Petersburg and culminating with the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself--its character, spiritual essence, and destiny. Skillfully interweaving the great works--by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall--with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons, and all the customs of daily life, Figes reveals the spirit of "Russianness" as rich and uplifting, complex and contradictory--and more lasting than any Russian ruler or state.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780312421953 (0312421958)
ASIN: 312421958
Publish date: October 17th 2003
Publisher: Picador
Pages no: 729
Edition language: English
bookshelves: one-penny-wonder, paper-read, published-2002, spring-2015, nonfiction, st-petersburg, tbr-busting-2015, history, architecture, art-forms, war, slavic, a-cut-above, anthropology, censorship, epic-proportions, absolute-favourites, eye-scorcher, class-war, lit-crit, summer-2015 Read from...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/16/orlando-figes-fake-amazon-reviews
Even though the author is a sock puppet*, I still need to read this book.*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/7622877/Orlando-Figes-Historian-admits-to-writing-anonymous-reviews-on-Amazon.html
I've been reading this book on and off for years, often re-reading the same passages since if you study just about anything related to Russia, you can use this book in a paper. It's an awesome book, and it should be obligatory reading in any Russian class. I love the way in which it is written, whic...
Apart from the stuff on music - which had my head spinning - I totally lived this book. Almost an anthropological as well as a cultural look at Russia. If you love Russian literature you'll love this.
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