The "Domostroi": Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible [Paperback]

Carolyn Johnston Pouncy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995

Winner of the 1994 Heldt Prize from the Association of Women in Slavic Studies

A detailed and colorful instruction manual on household management in sixteenth-century Russia, the Domostroi gives a fascinating glimpse of the world of the nobility. This "how-to" guide is one of the few sources on the social history and secular life of Russia in the time of Ivan the Terrible. Carolyn Johnston Pouncy here offers, with an informative introduction, the first complete English translation.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801496896
• ISBN-13: 978-0801496899
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #494,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Domostroi -- Life in Old Russia, July 19, 2001

By 

Alexei Fyodorovich (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The "Domostroi": Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible (Paperback)

One of the best ways to get to know a people is to learn what they believe, value, love, honor, and what they fear, loathe, and seek to avoid. One of the best guides to these attitudes and beliefs is what they do; this is the work they looked to to find out what to do. To learn it in their own words, articulately expressed and classically framed is a treat. To find it in a book that generations of a nation kept as their practical handbook for daily life is a marvel. It's like a combination of Emily Post, Betty Crocker, and the Old Farmer's Almanac, with elements of the Book of Common Prayer thrown in. You won't find critical analysis, postmodern theory, contextualization or anything condescending here -- just their own values and rules for living, as they held them. It ain't everything, but it sure is a leg up on knowing what even modern Russians are about. And it is intensely amusing. Communism, Maffia and modernity have taken their toll, but old Orthodox Slavic values are alive especially among some more traditional emigrees. You will find their prescription for living here, flatfooted, naive, often amiable, occasionally hilarious, and sometimes enough to make a genteel modern person cringe. Whether you want to revive it, analyze it, critique it, or just understand it, this gives enormous insight into a tradition we need to know about. It is of the nature of "source material," unless you are a Russian in search of a reference work for life. But it is well done, an important work to have translated. For anyone planning to visit Moscow during the rule of Ivan Grozny, this is almost the first thing to pack in your time machine--maybe right after your kaftan, axe, Slavonic Prayer Book and "prazdniki"-- travelling icon. It is well enough translated and introduced, but the text itself is its own best reason to be and be read. Pouncy does well to let it be in a good, accessible form, in our language, in our alien world.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Russian ettiquitte, December 1, 2003

By 

doc peterson (Portland, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The "Domostroi": Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible (Paperback)

The Domostroi is part "Miss Manners" part "Better Homes and Gardens" for Russia under the Czars. It is a fascinating glimpse at another time in a very foreign place.

The book discusses a wide variety of daily rituals and domestic tasks to be done by various members of the household. For example, there are instructions on subjects as varied as "How to Invite Priests and Monks Into One's House to Pray", "How a Good Woman Supervises Her Domestic's Needlework" to "Recepies for All Sorts of Honey Drinks: How to distill and brew." The information, while dry, gives the reader a very clear understanding of what daily life was like in Russian in the 15th and 16th centuries.

While probably not of interest to all, it certainly is a marvelous resource to those seeking a deeper understanding of the "Russian soul."

4 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Translation errors..., February 3, 2005

By 

Michael L. Suggs "Mad Duke" (DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The "Domostroi": Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible (Paperback)

I'm sorry to say that having read this translation and having done my own from the period Russian source, the author has several important errors that will mislead users. I would recommend getting someone to do an accurate translation of the original text if at all possible prior to purchasing this book. If that is unavailable, then this is the only other option.