Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia - Softcover

Figes, Orlando

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140297960 ISBN 13: 9780140297966

Publisher: Penguin, 2003

Synopsis

From the award-winning author of The Whisperers, Orlando Figes Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia is a dazzling history of Russia's mighty culture.

Orlando Figes' enthralling, richly evocative history has been heralded as a literary masterpiece on Russia, the lives of those who have shaped its culture, and the enduring spirit of a people.

'Wonderfully rich ... magnificent and compelling ... a delight to read'
  Antony Beevor

'A tour de force by the great storyteller of modern Russian historians ... Figes mobilizes a cast of serf harems, dynasties, politburos, libertines, filmmakers, novelists, composers, poets, tsars and tyrants ... superb, flamboyant and masterful'
  Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Financial Times

'Awe-inspiring ... Natasha's Dance has all the qualities of an epic tragedy'
  Mail on Sunday

'It is so much fun to read that I hesitate to write too much, for fear of spoiling the pleasures and surprises of the book'
  Sunday Telegraph

'Magnificent ... Figes is at his exciting best'
  Guardian

'Breathtaking ... The title of this masterly history comes from War and Peace, when the aristocratic heroine, Natasha Rostova, finds herself intuitively picking up the rhythm of a peasant dance ... One of those books that, at times, makes you wonder how you have so far managed to do without it'
  Independent on Sunday

'Thrilling, dizzying ... I would defy any reader not to be captivated'
  Literary Review

Orlando Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Peasant Russia, Civil War, A People's Tragedy, Natasha's Dance, The Whisperers and Just Send Me Word. His books have been translated into over twenty languages.

About this title

Review:

As epic and ambitious as his first book A People's Tragedy, Orlando Figes's Natasha's Dance is a sweeping panorama of Russian culture over the centuries. It takes its title from a scene in War and Peace in which the upper-crust Natasha Rostov, visiting her countrified "Uncle", falls instinctively into the rhythms of a peasant dance. Figes finds in this scene an ideal metaphor for his book's central theme--the perpetual see-sawing between the European cultural ideals of the aristocracy in St Petersburg and an "authentic" Russianess, usually seen as embodied in the peasantry and the country. The great debate in Russian culture has been between those who have seen it as a naturally "Western" society and those who have seen its destiny as lying in the East and its vast hinterland.

Around this supporting central theme, Figes has constructed an imposing edifice. The range of his knowledge and the sureness with which he deploys it are very impressive. Whether writing about the music of Stravinsky and Shostakovich or the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the buildings of St Petersburg or the poetry of Akhmatova, he has something new and original to say. The great cultural achievements of Russia often seem, for those who have only a little knowledge of Russian history, like giant mountains suddenly rising out of featureless terrain. Figes's excellent book gives them a context and fills out many of the details of the surrounding landscape.--Nick Rennison

Review:

"In this excellent book Orlando Figes gives us...the sight, sound and flavour of several ‘Russias’, glimpsed from various angles..." -- Literary Review, October 1, 2002 (by Lindsey Hughes)

"One of those books that, at times, makes you wonder how you have so far managed to do without it." -- Independent on Sunday, October 6, 2002 (by Robin Buss)

"This wide-ranging history of Russia is one of the publishing events of the year." -- Sunday Times Culture, September 15, 2002

"Written beautifully with striking wit...this superb, flamboyant and masterful tour d’horizon is fun, anecdotal and fascinating, colourful and playful." -- Financial Times, September 22, 2002 (by Simon Sebag Montefiore)

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0140297960
• ISBN 13: 9780140297966
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 768