Product Description

This tremendously attractive, ambitious, dizzying book is in every way a worthy successor to Figes' bestselling A PEOPLE'S TRAGEDY. The whole panorama of Russia's mighty culture is conjured up in a way that is fresh, intimate and immediate. Whether talking about music or novels, buildings or paintings, Figes' enthusiasm and literary brilliance sweeps the reader along through a series of great set-piece chapters.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12216 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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 huge volume Figes tries to answer complex questions about Russian identity and culture - what makes the country and the people tick - and he does this brilliantly with insight and humour. Russia has always been an enigma to the Western world. We probably know more about its political history than about its people, and thankfully the book does not get stuck in the political mire. Far from it; Figes entertains the reader without watering down the history, and draws us in to the heartbeat of the Russian people. One of the chapters is titled 'In search of the Russian soul' and deals with the almost morbid veneration of suffering, the great desire for martyrdom, which seems to be a core element of the national character; and how Russian composers, artists and writers sought to express this trait and question its origins. He writes about the lives of the peasants, their rituals, their weddings, how they cooked, and what they ate. 'Moscow was a city of gourmands', Figes tells us as he writes of the excesses of the nobility, where princes vied with one another for the best chef and the best hospitality, and drank themselves silly on vodka. His portrait is intimate, eavesdropping into the hearts and minds of the populace, revealing their suffering and their humour. The writing is delightfully accessible and packed full of facts, yet its tone is light. He studies Tchaikovsky, Chagall, Stravinsky, religious icons and daily customs, and Russia's pagan roots. There is a fascinating chapter entitled 'Descendants of Genghiz Khan' and one about the artist Kandinsky's personal exploration of the Komi region, as he studied the roots of Russian folk culture. Then there are the brutalising effects of revolt and revolution, the rise of Lenin and Stalin, and how individual expression was crushed in the 20th century by communism. As an introduction to Russian culture there is nothing better than this, and there is plenty of meat for Russophiles everywhere. Figes is an internationally renowned historian and here he makes the history of this strange and melancholy country available to all. (Kirkus UK)

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