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LIFE ON THE RUSSIAN COUNTRY ESTATE

Name: LIFE ON THE RUSSIAN COUNTRY ESTATE
Author: Priscilla Roosevelt
ISBN: 0-300-05595-1

A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY

by Priscilla Roosevelt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1995

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A lively and lavishly illustrated account of social relations and material culture on the 18th- and 19th-century Russian estate. Roosevelt, a fellow of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University, has made a major contribution to scholarship with this groundbreaking study of the Russian estate and its seminal role in the development of Russian culture. Working with the limited sources available to her (much was destroyed or made inaccessible by the Soviets), Roosevelt recreates in elaborate but never dull detail this almost forgotten world. Her impartial and intriguing picture is of interest to both scholars in a variety of fields (history, literature, art, and architecture) and to lay readers whose interest has been piqued by the writings of Tolstoy and Chekhov. Not one to shrink from ugly details, Roosevelt discusses the dark side of estate life, such as the ``barbarities of serf ownership'': beatings, separation of families, harems, rape, and the denial of freedom. She also renders the fascinating cultural and artistic roles that serfs were made to fill according to the peculiar whims of their masters. Educated at their master's dictate and expense, serfs became accomplished actors, opera singers, craftsmen, woodworkers, and painters. Some even used their skills to purchase their freedom. It was largely through the estates' nurturing of artisan skills and cultural pastimes, the author convincingly argues, that Russian culture took the course that it did. Roosevelt also focuses on the estate owners' search for self-definition as expressed in their material surroundings, capturing in the world of the estate the dichotomy between East and West that permeated Russian culture and politics after the Petrine reforms. Roosevelt's book will fascinate readers and prove priceless to renewed efforts in Russia to reclaim this neglected chapter of the country's heritage. (158 b&w illustrations, 72 colorplates, not seen) (History Book Club selection)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-300-05595-1

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Yale Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995

Categories:

HISTORY | WORLD | GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.