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Loading... Family Chronicle (original 1856; edition 2000)by S. T. Aksakov
Work InformationA Russian Gentleman by Sergei Aksakov (1856)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This and the succeeding two volumes in the author's Family Chronicle trilogy form one of the masterpieces of 19th century Russian literature, largely overlooked outside Russia itself. A lightly-fictionalised account of the life of his grandfather around the turn of the 18th/19th centuries, Aksakov wrote the book half a century after the events he describes in it happened, and from the accounts of family members and others, since his grandfather died not long after the author was born. Neverthe less it is utterly alive and is an extraordinary evocation of the life of rural Russia at this time. ( ) no reviews | add a review
At the center of this chronicle of Russian provincial life in the reign of Catherine the Great stands the patriarchal figure of the author's grandfather, Stepan Mikhailovich. A man of great natural dignity, imbued with respect for tradition and love of the land, he is also despotic and virtually illiterate. Into the family comes his son's new wife, a spirited, intelligent girl from the town. Her eyes see a different world--one tainted by grossness, cruelty, and squalor--and she suffers from the hostility of jealous sisters-in-law and the shortcomings of a husband whom she loves but cannot respect. Her relationship with Stepan Mikhailovich is the heart of a story in which Aksakov celebrates the old feudal way of life without concealing its darker, repressive side. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)891.733Literature Literature of other languages Literature of east Indo-European and Celtic languages Russian and East Slavic languages Russian fiction 1800–1917LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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