A Journey from Saint Petersburg to Moscow
by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Radishchev
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Description
"Alexander Radishchev's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in the age of Catherine the Great. An account of a fictional journey along a postal route, it blends literature, philosophy, and political economy to expose social and economic injustices and their causes at all levels of Russian society. Not long after the book's publication in 1790, Radishchev was condemned to death for its radicalism and ultimately exiled to show more Siberia instead. Radishchev's literary journey is guided by intense moral conviction. He sought to confront the reader with urgent ethical questions, laying bare the cruelty of serfdom and other institutionalized forms of exploitation. The Journey's multiple strands include sentimental fictions, allegorical discourses, poetry, theatrical plots, historical essays, a treatise on raising children, and comments on corruption and political economy, all informed by Enlightenment arguments and an interest in placing Russia in its European context. Radishchev is perhaps the first in a long line of Russian writer-dissenters such as Herzen and Solzhenitsyn who created a singular literary idiom to express a subversive message. In Andrew Kahn and Irina Reyfman's idiomatic and stylistically sensitive translation, one of imperial Russia's most notorious clandestine books is now accessible to English-speaking readers"-- show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Written around 1790, this is in a way an interesting read. Don't have high expectations on his literary style, though. And his political views are extremely vague. The one clear thing is he does not like serfdom. And who does nowadays? I recommend you read Pipes: Russia under the Old Regime. THAT is a marvelous book about old Russia. And Pipes (like me) is not very impressed by Radishchev. In fact Pipes points out that Pushkin wrote a parody of this book: Journey from Moscow to St Petersburg. According to Pipes Radishchevs ephemeral fame is based on Soviet propaganda.
Un libro de buena apariencia, pero muy mal editado y corregido. Lo cual es injustificable en una editorial con la experiencia de esta empresa y traducido por un equipo profesional.
Jun 3, 2019Spanish
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Works Cited in The Life and Death of Democracy by John Keane
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Author Information
6 Works 117 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Journey from Saint Petersburg to Moscow
- Original title
- Путешествие из Петербурга в Москву
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 947.060924
- Canonical LCC
- HN525.R313
Classifications
- Genre
- Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 947.060924 — History & geography History of Europe Eastern European Counties and Russia Russian & Slavic History by Period Catharine I - Catharine II 1725-96
- LCC
- HN525 .R313 — Social sciences Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform Social history and conditions. Social problems. By region or country
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 110
- Popularity
- 294,273
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.04)
- Languages
- 9 — Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 21
- ASINs
- 8
