Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia

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

Reader Reviews:

Amazing Russia (1/1 people found this helpful)

Let There Be A City and there was St Petersburg. Thus starts this incredible story and the next 600 pages (take heed) carry you on a breathtaking journey through Russia, its people and culture as spoken forth by her most brilliant artistes - from Pushkin to Dostoyevsky, Akhmatova to Nabokov, Tolstoy to Gogol, Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky, Ballets Russes to Kandinsky. The first few chapters give an engrossing purview of St Petersburg (where the nobility spoke french before russian) and Moscow (where counts fed their pets on truffles and then went bankrupt).

Holy Russia - the new christian Rome after Constantinople, the land of icons and the Old Believers. Gay Russia and the mazurka and all night balls. Peasant Russia and the battle for food, liberty and vodka. Whence comes the passion and spirit of the descendants of Genghiz Khan and the Vikings? Who would have thought the land of Stalin could once have been so dazzling (see Sukurov's film Russian Ark for visual stimulus). Wonders never cease.

Please, please don't read this rich book if you have a beggarly knowledge of russian literature and history. Lest you declaim this treasure. Go read first and then come back. You'll cry for joy.

Fine, imaginative piece of historical writing (1/1 people found this helpful)

A very imaginative, richly informative piece of scholarship and a pleasure to read. A great book by one of the great historians of his generation.

A unique and brilliant book, a must read if you want to understand Russia (12/12 people found this helpful)

Natasha's Dance is in a class of its own. It is the only book that takes in the whole sweep of Russian culture and history, linking literature, theatre, dance, opera and more. Although I studied Russian language, literature and history and I was living in Moscow, there were many things that I just couldn't understand: why were Russians like they were? How did they be so boorish one moment but so cultured and romantic the next? What really happened when the Mongols invaded? Where did those matrioshka dolls come from? Why does Russian music sound different to western European music? What was life like in feudal peasant Russia? or in Siberian exile? How did one country produce peasants, communists, oligarchs, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky and a whole lot of spies? In Russian literature, why was there so much about wet-nurses, religion, name days, icons, duelling, Decembrists, noble serfs and mystic fools? Who were the Cossacks? Did the entire Russian noble class really speak French to each other? Why didn't the peasants revolt earlier? And why did exiles harbour such a longing for their homeland, even though it was full of communists, corruption and subzero temperatures?
Natasha's Dance tells you all this and far more, much more than I can recall in one go. The name of the book, which is rather offputtingly esoteric, refers to a scene from War and Peace, which indicates what level of reader it is pitched at.
This book is not a light read. There is so much information, you may find you need to stop to take a thinking break after every page just to take it all in. It is so rich that you may be overwhelmed if you haven't got at least a passing knowledge of Russia. If you're not vaguely familiar with at least a handful of names such as Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chekhov, Stravinsky or Akhmatova, you might find Natasha's Dance is a bit of an uphill struggle, and it might be better to start with a gentler climb, like Anna Karenina or Doctor Zhivago.
But for those who know something about Russia and want to supercharge their understanding of the place and its people, this book is undeniably, uniquely, wonderful: a treasure trove.

Figes is one of the most accessible and intelligent historians around (4/4 people found this helpful)

This is a cultural history of Russia over the past three centuries. Somehow Orlando Figes manages to draw together disparate concepts and unite them into a coherent view of a wonderfully unique culture. From peasant music and dance to classic literature and the affairs of the state, Figes delves into the heart of Russian culture to produce a work of supreme importance, both for students of Russian history, and those who wish to know more about the vivid, breathing entity that is culture. This is a readable but powerful work which seeks to create a lucid history of one of the biggest and most diverse countries in the world.

A fine cultural history (5/6 people found this helpful)

I first read this book whilst on my gap year in Moscow for 6 months. It was gripping (not a word I would normally apply to a history book!) and really added a whole new dimension to my stay there. The book is highly readable and feels more like a novel than a history book. It was one which I passed to friends from all over that I met, other Brits, Aussies, Germans, Americans and Czechs. Everyone loved it and I can't emphasise quite how brilliant this book has been. And studying Russian at uni, I constantly reference this book alongside more conventional history texts to gain a different perspective on historical events. Figes offers a more personal look at Russian history by looking at events through the eyes of often lesser known characters and by avoiding trudging through history chronologically, instead choosing to look at how history has been shaped by different cultural ideas and themes.
Whether you're a newcomer to Russian history or a Russian professor (I suggested mine all read it!), I would recommend this book for introducing the intricacies of a complex and intriguing culture and giving a fresh twist to Russia's history. If you're planning and trip to Russia and can spare the time (it's quite a lengthy book!) I'd definitely suggest "Natasha's Dance."

Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia

Orlando Figes

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