Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Cultural History [Paperback]

Ms. Priscilla Roosevelt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 1995

From the reign of Peter the Great, Russia's country estates were oases of barbarian splendour and personal freedom in a vast, sparsely settled and authoritarian land. This work explores the vanished world of the Russian country estate. It examines the aristocratic dwellings, discussing their origins, their design and decoration, the social, family, and cultural life within their walls, and their physical demise after the 1917 revolution. In these enclaves, newly acquired European habits competed with age-old Russian tradition. The nobility owned legions of serfs from brickmakers and gardeners to gilders and portrait painters whose labour made possible a unique way of life. On some estates, serf theatres and harems reflected the owner's unrestrained personal fantasy; on others, relations between lord and serf echoed the patriarchal values of the Russian elite. Throughout the empire, the sights, sounds and realities of country life inspired both plans for political and social reform and much of Russia's great art, literature and music. The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 altered the dynamics of this life, but the cultural significance of the estate remained strong to the end of the old regime. The Bolshevik revolution destroyed both the world of the estate and much of the evidence about it. To recreate this lost world the author draws on sources including the physical remains of once grand manor houses (many photographed for this book), the diaries and memoirs that chronicle a way of life that was to perish, and the Russian art and literature that estate life produced and in which it was portrayed. Juxtaposing images from art and from the novels of such literary giants as Turgenev and Tolstoy with the real milieu that inspired them, this text is a portrait of Russian country life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Russia of the old regime was an overwhelmingly rural society even at the dawn of the twentieth century. Like the plantation owners of our antebellum South, the landed aristocrats of Russia saw themselves as the standard-bearers and protectors of their national culture and "gentlemanly values." Even after the end of legal serfdom in 1861, these large islands of wealth continued to dominate rural Russian life. In her richly detailed and lavishly illustrated work, Roosevelt portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and contradictions of this society. It was an intensely patriarchal society in which oriental elements often seemed to outweigh Western traditions. Surprisingly, these manors, supposedly anchors of conservatism, often generated movements for political reform. From both a historical and a sociological standpoint, Roosevelt has done a fine job of showing us the values, rhythms, and achievements of a vanished world. Jay Freeman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 23, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300072627
• ISBN-13: 978-0300072624
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful peak at the past!, March 15, 2010

By 

Frederick R. Andresen "Author of “Walki... (Corona del Mar, CA ( and sometimes Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia)) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Cultural History (Hardcover)

What a wonderful book! A wonderful peak at a past that will never come again. Chekhov could not have done it any better. I lived in Russia for six years and visited many of these wonderful estates, a hint of the aristocracy and landed gentry life of the 17th and 18th centuries: Ostankino, Kuskovo, Arkhangelskoe, others, so much beauty. Ms. Roosevelt captures the perfect architecture, the colorful gardens, the jeweled ballrooms and theaters. Plus, her writing is not only informative and accurate, but entertaining. You feel like you are looking out from a gilded frame on the painted parlor wall. This book deserves a permanent place in a cultured family's library.

Frederick R. Andresen, Author of "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia."

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Russian Feast!, June 11, 2007

By 

G. M. Hamburg (Claremont, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Cultural History (Paperback)

Priscilla Roosevelt is a marvelous historian with a rare aesthetic sense. Her book on Russian country estates not only explains their appearance in the eighteenth century and their extraordinary development in the nineteenth century, it gives the reader a visual sense of estate architecture and garden design. When I bought this book, I read it straight through. Later, I picked it up, studied various houses that appealed to me, and let my mind wander. Reading this book is a vicarious trip straight into the world of the Russian nobility. No new reader of Tolstoy's War and Peace should tackle that book without first perusing this one!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read for anyone and a must for history buffs!, July 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Cultural History (Hardcover)

Ms. Roosevelts highly informative and readable text combines with the volumes many photographs and illustrations to bring to life the world of the aristocracy and landed gentry of Russia and those who served them, more than a century ago.

Ms.Roosevelt's engrossing study takes on this vast subject with apparent ease and succeeds.

I recommend this book to anyone at all who is looking for an intersting read. Whether your a history buff or not you're sure to enjoy this book. By the time I had finnished the first paragraph I was unable to put it down!