From the first page of this revelation of a novel we know it is not going to be like any other nineteenth century Russian tale we have read. Central to this is the writer’s superb voice – light, mocking of authority and conventional wisdom, yet patiently understanding of the characters’ foibles and flaws.
It rests on the sort of central device that drives many novels: an outsider arrives in a community and unexpected interactions, challenges and scandals ensue. But the difference here is that this device is employed by a very accomplished, gifted writer who happens to be female. Which means we get to return to the drawing rooms and usadbas of Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky without those fellows in tow, giving us a refreshing new take that is neither preachy nor political, and decidedly more fun. (Disclaimer: The translator of this novel is our own translations editor, Nora Favorov.)
The main character, the accomplished and capable noblewoman, Nastasya Ivanovna Chulkova, has no interest in enlightenment or analysis. She just wants her estate to work at a profit and for everyone to be happy. Yet her own happiness is hardest to come by, because she is far too worried about what others think. Her daughter, Olenka, meanwhile, is a flighty, flirtatious, and restless young woman who feels claustrophobically confined in their little town, and is not at all convinced that she needs or wants to be married.
And then there is the catalyst-visitor Erast Sergeyevich Ovcharov, a pompous, psychosomatic world traveler who can’t sort things out on his estate (which borders Nastasya’s), so, he must take up residence for the summer in Nastasya’s banya, not unlike a bothersome bannik spirit.
There are plenty of other fantastic minor characters as well, not least of which is the self-righteous, 43-year-old “spinster,” Anna Ilinishna, whose dissatisfaction sets all sorts of things in motion. All the characters are richly drawn, and Kvoshchinskaya (who, along with her prolific sister, had to publish under male pseudonyms) patiently awaits their slow progression toward doing the right thing.
The story takes place one year after the liberation of the serfs, so uncertainty rules. The landowners are trying to work out settlements with their former vassals, to understand what their own futures hold. Meanwhile, Olenka and Nastasya are navigating the minefield of nuptial negotiations, while the clueless, self-obsessed Erast just wants to bathe in the river and pen his unpublishable screeds.
Nicely paced and well plotted, this is not a novel imbued with a great moral or message (except perhaps that rarely do the most deserving get their due in the end). Instead, it is more an entertaining account of what can happen when worlds collide – Gogolian perhaps, but with a far lighter touch.
An introduction to the work by Hilden Hoogenboom provides invaluable context and data to the novel, for instance that 16 percent of Russia’s productive writers in 1880 were women. Would that this novel will set in motion a serious effort to see that more of those voices are heard.
In February 2014 the future was so tantalizingly near. The Sochi Olympics closed to fanfare and acclaim. Despite the naysayers (and the budget-busting construction), Russia had pulled off a first-class spectacle, hosting one of the world’s most important international events.
And then, four days later, masked Russian troops bearing no insignia occupied Crimea. Less than a month after that, Russia claimed the Ukrainian peninsula as Russian territory, ignoring international outrage. Hybrid warfare in eastern Ukraine followed, and Russia’s relations with the West headed into an ever-deepening abyss, culminating in the election meddling scandals and, most recently, tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
If we want to understand what is going on, argues Plokhy, we need to look at Crimea and Ukraine in the context of the longer sweep of Russian history. We need to understand what it means to be Russian, what the difference is (for Russians) between national borders and national identity.
One might question whether one should turn to a Ukrainian-born historian for an understanding of Russian foreign policy and national intent. But, on the other hand, one could argue that this is exactly the sort of writer one wants to hear from these days, that is, if one seeks a balanced understanding of what is going on in Russia’s borderlands. Plokhy is a gifted historian and he retells this history in a very engaging style, which helps one easily grasp the through-lines in history he wants to illuminate.
And his point is this: Russia will not find security or prosperity through territory or ideology. Instead, it must “adjust Russia’s own identity to the demands of the post-imperial world. The future of the Russian nation and its relations with its neighbors lies not in a return to the lost paradise of the imagined East Slavic unity of the medieval Kyivan state, but in the formation of a modern civic nation within the borders of the Russian Federation.”
Seeking a bit of solace and quiet in our increasingly anxious and fractious world? Join the coloring craze and do it with a Russian-bent. This new coloring book offers Russian subjects from the Silver Age, from tsars’ crowns to St. Basil’s cupolas, from playing cards and military orders to fish and beautiful landscapes.
A great gift idea for the more artistically inclined of your Russophile friends. And even for the less-so, as long as they can color within the lines.
So, you are working on your Russian vocabulary and your grammar. You are even chipping away at verbs of motion, prefixes, and the whole perfective/imperfective morass. But what are you doing on the phonetic front? You know, so that when you pronounce all the right words, you don’t negate your success by speaking in a thick American (or British) accent?
For independent students without access to a phonetics class or a patient, helpful native speaker, this DVD comes to the rescue. It leads users through all the vowel and consonant sounds, with audio and visual demonstrations, so that one can make oneself sound more Russian, be it in a casual sidewalk conversation, or when singing a Russian choral work in a choir.
No, this won’t keep you from needing to learn your grammar, but it could help you develop a reasonable facsimile of a Russian accent, which can help hide many lessor errors.
Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.
Russian Life 73 Main Street, Suite 402 Montpelier VT 05602
802-223-4955
[email protected]
