But as Figes brilliantly shows, the 19th-century intellectuals developed a blend of affection and exasperation in their approach to the peasantry - and this helped them produce art of transcendent quality. Their upbringing was left by their parents to peasant servants who taught them lullabies, superstitions and the festivals of the religious calendar. tuhaf tarafı bu bölümde anlatılanların izlerini bir süredir tanıdığınız Rusların zihinlerinde de görebilirsiniz.

The complexities of Russian culture are not to be taken on lightly, but Figes successfully guides the reader through the forest of the great Pantheon of music, literature, poetry, art, and much more which form the cultural heritage of the world’s largest country. Yazar burada karakterin farklı öğretilerle büyütülmüş olmasına rağmen içindeki Rus ruhunu her daim korumasından etkilenerek bu tarih kitabına bu ismi vermiş. Astonishingly, his wife, together with many other wives of political exiles and convicts, followed him on foot. Napolyon’un Rus seferi ile Fransız hayranlığının hat safhada olduğu Rusya’da doğal olarak işlerin değişmesine rağmen hala Fransız hayranlarını barındırması Rusya’yı Moskova –ulusalcılar- Petersburg- batıcılar- gibi bir ikilemde bırakmıştır. Members of the educated elite liked to impress each other with their European and urban sophistication; and in their palaces or salons in the cities they disdained to draw attention to their rural connections.He argues that - or rather describes how - Russia's upper classes imbibed the peasant life from birth.

For those of us who admire the Russian composers and authors, Figes' book gives us invaluable information about the context in which they lived and work.

This makes sense from the author's perspective, according to which Soviet history is not even Russian history, but rather 'a lens' through which Russia looks distorted. CONCLUSIONLike I said at the beginning, this is a great introductory primer into Russian cultural history. Mongol rule across the subsequent 300 years left a large imprint on Russian official and popular culture.