The Russian Century: A Hundred Years of Russian Lives

by George Pahomov, Nickolas Lupinin

Overview

The Russian Century is the most comprehensive and accessible collection of readings devoted to Russian culture and civilization. The fascinating first-person accounts paint a vivid picture of the Russian people through the turbulent years of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This book allows readers to see Russia through the private lives of people who come from diverse backgrounds, various educational and socio-economic experiences, and a broad geographic spectrum. Diary entries, personal sketches, memoirs, and letters tell these stories in an intimate and authentic voice of immediate experience rather than the distant, general flow of history. Translated into English for the first time, personal matters as well as the larger social and political context are revealed in a manner that provides significant insight into a powerful, distinctive, and influential culture.

All too often the Russian experience has been presented as either horrific or heroic. This volume goes beyond that approach and deals with areas which have received little or no attention to existing studies of Russian history and culture—love, sexuality, courtship, marriage, family life, work, education, and religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761840671
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	09/09/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

George Pahomov is Professor of literature and language and culture and civilization at Bryn Mawr College. He holds a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from New York University.
Nickolas Lupinin is Senior Lecturer of History at Franklin Pierce College and Center Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in History from New York University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Acknowledgements
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 Glossary of Terms
Part 4 Part I: The Vanished Presence: Russia Before 1914
Chapter 5 Viktor Chernov, Idylls on the Volga
Chapter 6 Sergie N. Durylin, Domestic Love
Chapter 7 Sofia Kovalevskaia, A Thief in the House
Chapter 8 Oleg Pantiukhov, A Student's Summer
Chapter 9 Aleksandra Tyrkova-Williams, A Women's History
Chapter 10 Nikolai Volkov-Muromtsev, Memories
Chapter 11 Vladimir Zensinov, Coming of Age
Chapter 12 Vasilii Nikiforov-Volgin, Presanctified Gifts
Chapter 13 Mark Vishniak, In Two Worlds
Chapter 14 Konstantin Paustovskii, Commencement Revelry
Part 15 Part II: Instability and Dislocation: 1914-1929
Chapter 16 Georgii Altaev, How I Became a Cub Scout
Chapter 17 Nikolai Filatov: A Soldier's Letters
Chapter 18 Konstantin Paustovskii, Save Your Strength
Chapter 19 Roman Gul, We're in Power Now
Chapter 20 Sergei Mamontov, Civil War: A White Army Journal
Chapter 21 Vera Volkonskaia, Orphaned by Revolution
Chapter 22 Mikhail Gol'dshtein, My First Recital
Chapter 23 Vikto Kravchenko, Youth in Red
Chapter 24 Vasilii Ianov, The Heart of a Peasant
Part 25 Part III: Unrelenting Order and Terror: 1930-1953
Chapter 26 B. Brovtsyn, Dearly Beloved
Chapter 27 Tat'iana Fresenko, Internal Dissenter
Chapter 28 Nila Magidoff, Only to Travel! Only to Live!
Chapter 29 Tat'iana Fresenko, War-Scorched Kiev
Chapter 30 Elena I. Kochina, Blockade Diary
Chapter 31 N. Ianevich, Literary Politics
Chapter 32 K. Vadot, The Terrorist
Part 33 Part IV: Apogee and Fracture: 1954-1991
Chapter 34 Mariia Shapiro, A Soviet Capitalist
Chapter 35 Valerii Leviatov, My Path to God
Chapter 36 Valentin Kataev, A Paschal Memory
Chapter 37 Kirill Kostsinskii [K.V. Uspenskill], A Dissident's Trial
Chapter 38 Iurii Krotkov, The KGB in Action
Chapter 39 Vladimir Azbel, Siberian Adversity
40 Leonid Shebarshin, Three Days in August

Editorial Reviews

This is an enlightening, well-structured collection....striking.

The Keene Sentinel

The editors undertook the ambitious task of presenting over a hundred years of Russia's history.. .. The chronological scope of The Russian Century is quite impressive and takes its readers across major milestones of Russian history.. .. The wide range of voices makes this volume an indispensable tool for teaching undergraduate courses in Russian culture.

The Russian Review

Wonderful and handy collection of writings that renders to the reader a multiplicity of private Russian worlds.. .. The book makes a rich, contextual supplement to any course on Russian civilization or twentieth-century Russian literature in translation.. .. Excellent collection.

Slavic and East European Journal

This is an enlightening, well-structured collection....striking.

February 2009 The Keene Sentinel

Wonderful and handy collection of writings that renders to the reader a multiplicity of private Russian worlds. . . . The book makes a rich, contextual supplement to any course on Russian civilization or twentieth-century Russian literature in translation. . . . Excellent collection.

Fall 2009 Slavic and East European Journal

The editors undertook the ambitious task of presenting over a hundred years of Russia's history. . . . The chronological scope of The Russian Century is quite impressive and takes its readers across major milestones of Russian history. . . . The wide range of voices makes this volume an indispensable tool for teaching undergraduate courses in Russian culture.

Winter 2009 The Russian Review