Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia

Product Information

In an interview with Andrew Marr in 1997, Figes described himself as "a Labour Party supporter and 'a bit of a Tony Blair man', though he confessed, when it came to the Russian revolution, to being mildly pro- Menshevik." [8]

Figes, Orlando (July–August 2011). "Don't Go There: Chasing the dying memories of Soviet trauma". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Orlando Figes investido doctor honoris causa por la UIMP: 'Nos hemos equivocado con Rusia durante mucho tiempo' ". www.uimp.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 August 2023 . Retrieved 16 September 2023. Timothy Phillips (25 May 2012). "Staying alive with the language of love - Life Style Books - Life & Style - London Evening Standard". The Standard . Retrieved 24 July 2015. These sorts of errors would be forgivable perhaps in a self-published novel, but not in a nonfiction book that surely went through multiple rounds of serious editing. The issue here is that Figes is quite evidently sympathetic with the ‘Western assimilation’ argument; this would come as no surprise in an opinion piece, given that Figes himself is European, but this is not the sort of thing I would hope to encounter in a nonfiction book purportedly about Russian cultural history.

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.' Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

History on a grand scale-an enchanting masterpiece that explores the making of one of the world's most vibrant civilizations ORLANDO FIGES: With enormous difficulty! Working on Natasha's Dance was a labour of love; but it was also a tempestuous affair, which nearly ended in divorce. I threw away two versions of the book - literally threw away! The major problem was trying to work out what a 'cultural history' should be trying to achieve. 'Culture' can mean anything and everything these days. I spent three years simply reading and taking general notes without a clear plan. It was at this point that I made my mind up; the 'thing' that I was after was a temperament, a sensibility that held the Russians together and, perhaps more than any state or church, defined them as a nation. And this temperament was embodied in their 'culture': not just in their books and paintings but their customs and beliefs, their social habits and attitudes to childhood, marriage, death, the landscape, and so on. My aim was to tease out a 'Russian temperament', a common set of habits, ideas and attitudes, that could be related in a meaningful way to the works of high culture; like books and painting, poetry and music, operas and films, which form the central subject of Natasha's Dance. The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance. We Want To Defeat Russia,' Says British Historian Figes, 'But We Don't Want To Push It Into Civil War And Chaos' ". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 13 June 2023. Like Peter's occupancy of Evelyn's house, however, cultural tensions lay permanently unresolved beneath the foundations of new St Petersburg. In spite of the tsar's dreams of sophistication and grandeur, surface glamour provided only a partial overlay for far deeper, traditional Russian roots and an obstinately durable Russian nationalism.

Figes published The Story of Russia in September 2022. [10] The book is a general history of Russia from the earliest times to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It focuses on the ideas and myths that have structured the Russians' understanding of their history, and explores what Figes calls the "structural continuities" of Russian history, such as the sacralisation of power and patrimonial autocracy. The Guardian described it as "An indispensable survey of more than 1,000 years of history [which] shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in the tales this crucial country tells about itself" [42] A reviewer in The Spectator called it "a saga of multi-millennial identity politics"; Figes argues that no other country has so often changed its origin story, [43] its "[h]istories continuously reconfigured and repurposed to suit its present needs and reimagine its future". [44] Views on Russian politics [ edit ] 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.' I don't believe Figes understood the significance of Orthodoxy on the lives of ordinary Russian Christians throughout the ages including during Soviet times when so many were martyred for their faith. Russian tradition, food, music, entertainment, literature and the elusive Russian Soul all follow the church calendar, its many feasts and fasts.

History is a statement of facts, that is those that have not been suppressed in the archives. Writing history is uncomplicated but writing about the culture of Russia without being Russian is infinitely more difficult. Figes facts are impressive but I felt a certain underlying antipathy for Russia. urn:lcp:natashasdancecul0000fige:epub:22f4ac5b-5eeb-41ea-a59b-d100d4b75414 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier natashasdancecul0000fige Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t8gg3d50h Invoice 1652 Isbn 0805057838 Lccn 2002071881 Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-beta-20210815 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 1.0000 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-1200059 Openlibrary_edition ORLANDO FIGES: As a writer, no. I have fashioned my own style and I wouldn't say that I have been influenced by anyone in particular. But there are lots of writers I admire. Even historians. I think Simon Schama is a wonderful writer, although I wouldn't recommend anyone to try and write like him. I suppose my own ideal is simple and lucid. I tell my students to read Orwell and Chekhov. In Tolstoy's War and Peace Natasha Rostova, at the end of a day's hunting, goes to a wooden hut where folk songs are played to the balalaika. Natasha twirls around. But it is not a waltz or polka she is doing. Without even thinking about it, she dances like a peasant girl. History on a grand scale--an enchanting masterpiece that explores the making of one of the world's most vibrant civilizationsIn Natasha's Dance, Figes sets out to capture the many-stranded complexity of the idea of cultural 'Russianness'. But this is not just a cultural history, despite Figes's title. His book is especially angled to arouse the interest of those to whom the works of a litany of Russian artists, musicians and authors are already familiar and much-loved, as familiar as the curious Russian-clad figures in Figes's striking photographs are alien. What was it about Russia and its influences that inspired the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the plays of Chekhov, the music of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, the choreography of Stravinsky, the paintings of Chagall and Kandinsky? The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8050-7461-1, ISBN 0-8050-7461-9, ISBN 978-0-8050-7461-1, ISBN 0-8050-7461-9 Natasha's Dance was short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003. It has been translated into over twenty languages. It was awarded the prestigious Przeglad Wschodni Award for the best foreign book on East European history in Poland in 2009.

Luke Harding in Moscow (7 December 2008). "Russian police raid human rights group's archive |". The Observer. London . Retrieved 31 August 2011. Translated into more than twenty languages, [25] The Whisperers was described by Andrey Kurkov as "one of the best literary monuments to the Soviet people" [26] In it Figes underlined the importance of oral testimonies for the recovery of the history of repression in the former Soviet Union. While conceding that, "like all memory, the testimony given in an interview is unreliable", he said that oral testimony "can be cross-examined and tested against other evidence". [27]

Natasha’s Dance

Current RSL Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012 . Retrieved 18 March 2014. On 4 December 2008, the St Petersburg offices of the Memorial Society were raided by the police. The entire electronic archive of Memorial in St Petersburg, including the materials collected with Figes for The Whisperers, was confiscated by the authorities. Figes condemned the police raid, accusing the Russian authorities of trying to rehabilitate the Stalinist regime. [46] Figes organised an open protest letter to President Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian leaders, which was signed by several hundred leading academics from across the world. [47] After several court hearings, the materials were finally returned to Memorial in May 2009. Figes has also condemned the arrest by the FSB of historian Mikhail Suprun as part of a "Putinite campaign against freedom of historical research and expression". [48] Stanford, Peter (8 October 2017). "Those who complained about War and Peace are 'whingers', says historical advisor Orlando Figes". Telegraph.co.uk . Retrieved 8 October 2017. INTERVIEWER: You describe one of the characters in your book - the writer Simonov - as a 'good Stalinist'. Is such a thing possible? Isn't the idea of a 'good Stalinist' a contradiction in terms?