Selected Product:
| Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Author: Orlando Figes
Release Date: October 2002
ISBN-10: B0000T70GS
Average Customer Rating:
  | |
The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
ISBN-10: 0312428030
ISBN-13: 9780312428037
List Price:$20.00
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924
ISBN-10: 014024364X
ISBN-13: 9780140243642
List Price:$25.00
A History of Modern Russia: From Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin
ISBN-10: 067401801X
ISBN-13: 9780674018013
List Price:$23.50
The Icon and the Axe : An Interpretive History of Russian Culture
ISBN-10: 0394708466
ISBN-13: 9780394708461
List Price:$23.00
Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia
ISBN-10: 096441841X
ISBN-13: 9780964418417
List Price:$35.00
|
To use our price comparison to get the cheapest price, please click on the "Find the Cheapest Price" button located above for Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes (ISBN-10: B0000T70GS, ISBN-13: 0).
At this time we have not yet written a review for Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes (ISBN-10: B0000T70GS, ISBN-13: 0). Please continue to keep checking back to this page as we are constantly adding reviews.
Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
This text provides a richly evocative exploration of Russia, its culture and people. Vast in scale and woven though with extraordinary stories and characters, it ranges from the splendour of 18th-century St Petersburg to the power of Stalinist propaganda, from folk art to the magic rituals of Asiatic shamans, from the poetry of Pushkin to the music of Mussorgsky and the films of Eisenstein, bringing to life an extraordinary cast of serf artists and aristocrats, revolutionaries and exiles, priests and libertines. 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. Tolstoy shows that, however grand and foreign-educated they might be, at heart the Russians are Russians. Here, Orlando Figes explores the meaning of Natasha's dance: the often contradictory impulses and shared sensibilities that have given rise to one of the world's most dazzling cultures. He shows how, perhaps more than any other country, Russia's sense of identity is embodied in its culture: not only its great poetry, music, books and paintings, but also in its common ideas, customs, habits and beliefs. 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.
Portrait of a complex, unique culture
| Customer Rating: | You may think you know a fair amount about Russia, but think again: This book will open your eyes to things about that huge, fascinating country that you never even suspected.
Specifically, this gives you a long, deep, vastly detailed picture of Russian culture, from its founding as an amalgam between the original Slavic inhabitants and their conquerors, the Mongols under Genghis Khan; to the first effective uniting of the Russians under Tsar Ivan the Terrible; to Russia's first prolonged contact with the culture of the rest of Europe in the reign of Peter the Great.
Figes shows us how the Russian aristocracy took on European manners and mores in the 18th Century, even to the extent of being more comfortable speaking French than its own language; and how the country's native culture continued to thrive among the serfs, or peasants, the "dark masses" of what would later be called the "proletariat." The schizophrenic nature of Russian society may have helped to produce its volcanic outpouring of world-renowned artistic talent, especially of writers and composers, in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A word of caution: Though this is a towering work, it is not an easy read, unless you are very familiar with Russian names and common terms in the Russian language. But if you persevere through all 586 pages of text, you'll emerge with a vastly increased knowledge and understanding of what the term "Russian culture" is really all about.
|
The third side of the Russian coin.
| Customer Rating: | Having lived in Russia six years and still in business there since 1991, I quickly learned that in Russia there is not only the proverbial two sides of the coin, but often three. Figes cetainly examines that underside of what makes a Russian different. He does it with revealing research and obvious affection and respect for those deep characteristics so unique to Russia and it's people. Certainly a scholarly work, but still entertaining, convincing, and a joy to read. As I have heard from Russian readers of my own book, "Why does it always take a foreigner to explain us." Figes is a master at that.
Frederick R. Andresen, Author of "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia" |
Natasha's Dance
| Customer Rating:  | | I'm still in the middle of this thick book, and I find it fascinating--but my Russian colleagues tell me is it not altogether trustworthy in its portrayal of Russian history and culture, so I'm looking at it with an eye toward possible problems. That said, it is an eminently readable, fun way to get through a lot of the history of this endlessly fascinating country. |
Like Taking An Excellent College Overview Course
| Customer Rating: | | Sure this book didn't include everything that could be said about the cultural history of Russia, but what it said and how it said it was superb. You really get an appreciation for the great themes of intellectual thought. It reminded me of what it was like to take college history classes taught by the best professors on campus, back in the day. |
a Slice of History
| Customer Rating: | | Bought Natasha's Dance upon recommendation of a friend. Have only just started reading, but I am captivated by the passion and detail of Figes writing and quite looking forward to delving more deeply into this history of the Russian people. |
|
