Narrated in the tradition of Tolstoy's confessional trilogy and Nabokov's autobiography, Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story is a searing account of growing up a Jewish refusenik, of a young poet's rebellion against totalitarian culture, and of Soviet fantasies of the West during the Cold War. Shrayer's remembrances ore set against a rich backdrop of politics, travel, and ethnic conflict on the brink of the Soviet empire's collapse. His moving story offers generous doses of humor and tenderness, counterbalanced with longing and violence.
Soviet socialism was based on paradoxes that were revealed by the peculiar experience of its collapse. To the people who lived in that system the collapse seemed both completely unexpected and completely unsurprising. At the moment of collapse it suddenly became obvious that Soviet life had always seemed simultaneously eternal and stagnating, vigorous and ailing, bleak and full of promise. Although these characteristics may appear mutually exclusive, in fact they were mutually constitutive. This book explores the paradoxes of Soviet life during the period of "late socialism" (1960s-1980s) through the eyes of the last Soviet generation. Focusing on the major transformation of the 1950s at the level of discourse, ideology, language, and ritual, Alexei Yurchak traces the emergence of multiple unanticipated meanings, communities, relations, ideals, and pursuits that this transformation subsequently enabled. His historical, anthropological, and linguistic analysis draws on rich ethnographic material from Late Socialism and the post-Soviet period. The model of Soviet socialism that emerges provides an alternative to binary accounts that describe that system as a dichotomy of official culture and unofficial culture, the state and the people, public self and private self, truth and lie--and ignore the crucial fact that, for many Soviet citizens, the fundamental values, ideals, and realities of socialism were genuinely important, although they routinely transgressed and reinterpreted the norms and rules of the socialist state.
No nation is a stranger to war, but for Russians war is a central part of who they are. Their “motherland” has been the battlefield where some of the largest armies have clashed, the most savage battles have been fought, the highest death tolls paid. Having prevailed over Mongol hordes and vanquished Napoleon and Hitler, many Russians believe no other nation has sacrificed so much for the world. In Russia: The Story of War Gregory Carleton explores how this belief has produced a myth of exceptionalism that pervades Russian culture and politics and has helped forge a national identity rooted in war. While outsiders view Russia as an aggressor, Russians themselves see a country surrounded by enemies, poised in a permanent defensive crouch as it fights one invader after another. Time and again, history has called upon Russia to play the savior—of Europe, of Christianity, of civilization itself—and its victories, especially over the Nazis in World War II, have come at immense cost. In this telling, even defeats lose their sting. Isolation becomes a virtuous destiny and the whole of its bloody history a point of pride. War is the unifying thread of Russia’s national epic, one that transcends its wrenching ideological transformations from the archconservative empire to the radical-totalitarian Soviet Union to the resurgent nationalism of the country today. As Putin’s Russia asserts itself in ever bolder ways, knowing how the story of its war-torn past shapes the present is essential to understanding its self-image and worldview.
This carefully crafted ebook: "The Best Russian Plays and Short Stories by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gorky, Gogol and many more” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. It is said that if you haven't read the great Russian playwrights and authors then you haven't read anything at all. This edition represents a collection of some of the greatest Russian plays and short stories: Plays The Inspector General Savva The Life of Man Short Stories The Queen of Spades The Cloak The District Doctor The Christmas Tree And The Wedding God Sees The Truth, But Waits How A Muzhik Fed Two Officials The Shades, A Phantasy The Signal The Darling The Bet Vanka Hide And Seek Dethroned The Servant One Autumn Night Her Lover Lazarus The Revolutionist The Outrage An Honest Thief A Novel in Nine Letters An Unpleasant Predicament Another Man's Wife The Heavenly Christmas Tree The Peasant Marey The Crocodile Bobok The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Mumu The Shot St. John'S Eve An Old Acquaintance The Mantle The Nose Memoirs Of A Madman A May Night The Viy Knock, Knock, Knock The Inn Lieutenant Yergunov's Story The Dog The Watch Essays On Russian Novelists Lectures On Russian Novelists
Recounts the extraordinary and thrilling story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia, led by Mansfield Cumming, who would one day pioneer the field of covert action and become MI6, and their mission to foil Lenin's plot for global revolution. 40,000 first printing.
DigiCat presents to you a meticulously edited collection of Russian classics. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Content: Introduction: The History of the Russian Empire Novels & Novellas: Dead Souls A Hero of Our Time Oblomov Fathers and Sons Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment The Idiot The Brothers Karamazov Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace Anna Karenina The Death of Ivan Ilych The Kreutzer Sonata Anton Chekhov: The Steppe: The Story of a Journey Ward No. 6 Mother (Maxim Gorky) Satan's Diary (Leonid Andreyev) Plays: The Choice of a Tutor (Denis Fonvizin) The Inspector General; or, The Government Inspector (Nikolai Gogol) Anton Chekhov: On the High Road Swan Song, A Play in one Act Ivanoff The Anniversary; or, the Festivities The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard... Leo Tolstoy: The Power of Darkness The First Distiller Fruits of Culture The Live Corpse The Cause of it All The Light Shines in Darkness Leonid Andreyev: Savva The Life of Man Nikolai Evreinov: A Merry Death The Beautiful Despot Short Stories: The Queen of Spades The Cloak The District Doctor The Christmas Tree and the Wedding God Sees the Truth, but Waits How A Muzhik Fed Two Officials The Shades, a Phantasy The Heavenly Christmas Tree The Peasant Marey The Crocodile Bobok The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Mumu The Viy Knock, Knock, Knock The Inn Lieutenant Yergunov's Story The Dog The Watch... Russian Folk Tales & Legends: The Fiend The Dead Mother The Dead Witch The Treasure The Cross-Surety The Awful Drunkard The Bad Wife The Golovikha The Three Copecks The Miser The Fool and the Birch-Tree The Mizgir The Smith and the Demon Ivan Popyalof The Norka Marya Morevna Koshchei the Deathless The Water Snake The Water King and Vasilissa the Wise The Baba Yaga Vasilissa the Fair The Witch The Witch and the Sun's Sister One-Eyed Likho Woe... Essays: On Russian Novelists Lectures on Russian Novelists
Musaicum Books presents to you a meticulously edited collection of Russian classics. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Content: Introduction: The History of the Russian Empire Novels & Novellas: Dead Souls A Hero of Our Time Oblomov Fathers and Sons Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment The Idiot The Brothers Karamazov Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace Anna Karenina The Death of Ivan Ilych The Kreutzer Sonata Anton Chekhov: The Steppe: The Story of a Journey Ward No. 6 Mother (Maxim Gorky) Satan's Diary (Leonid Andreyev) Plays: The Choice of a Tutor (Denis Fonvizin) The Inspector General; or, The Government Inspector (Nikolai Gogol) Anton Chekhov: On the High Road Swan Song, A Play in one Act Ivanoff The Anniversary; or, the Festivities The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard… Leo Tolstoy: The Power of Darkness The First Distiller Fruits of Culture The Live Corpse The Cause of it All The Light Shines in Darkness Leonid Andreyev: Savva The Life of Man Nikolai Evreinov: A Merry Death The Beautiful Despot Short Stories: The Queen of Spades The Cloak The District Doctor The Christmas Tree and the Wedding God Sees the Truth, but Waits How A Muzhik Fed Two Officials The Shades, a Phantasy The Heavenly Christmas Tree The Peasant Marey The Crocodile Bobok The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Mumu The Viy Knock, Knock, Knock The Inn Lieutenant Yergunov's Story The Dog The Watch… Russian Folk Tales & Legends: The Fiend The Dead Mother The Dead Witch The Treasure The Cross-Surety The Awful Drunkard The Bad Wife The Golovikha The Three Copecks The Miser The Fool and the Birch-Tree The Mizgir The Smith and the Demon Ivan Popyalof The Norka Marya Morevna Koshchei the Deathless The Water Snake The Water King and Vasilissa the Wise The Baba Yaga Vasilissa the Fair The Witch The Witch and the Sun's Sister One-Eyed Likho Woe… Essays: On Russian Novelists Lectures on Russian Novelists
DigiCat presents to you this unique and meticulously edited collection of the greatest Russian classics: Introduction: The Rise of the Russian Empire Novels & Novellas: Dead Souls Oblomov Fathers and Sons Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment The Idiot The Brothers Karamazov Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace Anna Karenina The Death of Ivan Ilych The Kreutzer Sonata Anton Chekhov: The Steppe: The Story of a Journey Ward No. 6 Mother (Maxim Gorky) Satan's Diary (Leonid Andreyev) Plays: The Inspector General; or, The Government Inspector (Nikolai Gogol) Anton Chekhov: On the High Road Swan Song, A Play in one Act Ivanoff The Anniversary; or, the Festivities The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard... Leo Tolstoy: The Power of Darkness The First Distiller Fruits of Culture The Live Corpse The Cause of it All The Light Shines in Darkness Leonid Andreyev: Savva The Life of Man Short Stories: The Queen of Spades The Cloak The District Doctor The Christmas Tree and the Wedding God Sees the Truth, but Waits How A Muzhik Fed Two Officials The Shades, a Phantasy The Heavenly Christmas Tree The Peasant Marey The Crocodile Bobok The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Mumu The Viy Knock, Knock, Knock The Inn Lieutenant Yergunov's Story The Dog The Watch... Russian Folk Tales & Legends: The Fiend The Dead Mother The Dead Witch The Treasure The Cross-Surety The Awful Drunkard The Bad Wife The Golovikha The Three Copecks The Miser The Fool and the Birch-Tree The Mizgir The Smith and the Demon Ivan Popyalof The Norka Marya Morevna Koshchei the Deathless The Water Snake The Water King and Vasilissa the Wise The Baba Yaga Vasilissa the Fair The Witch The Witch and the Sun's Sister One-Eyed Likho Woe... Essays: On Russian Novelists Lectures on Russian Novelists
DigiCat presents to you this unique and meticulously edited collection of the greatest Russian classics: Introduction: The History of the Russian Empire Novels & Novellas: Dead Souls A Hero of Our Time Oblomov Fathers and Sons Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment The Idiot The Brothers Karamazov Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace Anna Karenina The Death of Ivan Ilych The Kreutzer Sonata Anton Chekhov: The Steppe: The Story of a Journey Ward No. 6 Mother (Maxim Gorky) Satan's Diary (Leonid Andreyev) Plays: The Choice of a Tutor (Denis Fonvizin) The Inspector General; or, The Government Inspector (Nikolai Gogol) Anton Chekhov: On the High Road Swan Song, A Play in one Act Ivanoff The Anniversary; or, the Festivities The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard... Leo Tolstoy: The Power of Darkness The First Distiller Fruits of Culture The Live Corpse The Cause of it All The Light Shines in Darkness Leonid Andreyev: Savva The Life of Man Nikolai Evreinov: A Merry Death The Beautiful Despot Short Stories: The Queen of Spades The Cloak The District Doctor The Christmas Tree and the Wedding God Sees the Truth, but Waits How A Muzhik Fed Two Officials The Shades, a Phantasy The Heavenly Christmas Tree The Peasant Marey The Crocodile Bobok The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Mumu The Viy Knock, Knock, Knock The Inn Lieutenant Yergunov's Story The Dog The Watch... Russian Folk Tales & Legends: The Fiend The Dead Mother The Dead Witch The Treasure The Cross-Surety The Awful Drunkard The Bad Wife The Golovikha The Three Copecks The Miser The Fool and the Birch-Tree The Mizgir The Smith and the Demon Ivan Popyalof The Norka Marya Morevna Koshchei the Deathless The Water Snake The Water King and Vasilissa the Wise The Baba Yaga Vasilissa the Fair The Witch The Witch and the Sun's Sister One-Eyed Likho Woe... Essays: On Russian Novelists Lectures on Russian Novelists