Sharing and Comparing: Russian Setting

[Amena]

Dear all,

I have seen so many exciting titles that are to be read this month that I really wanted to do something special with them - something that was planned a long, long time ago...

The "Russian setting" is a wonderful topic for a group discussion. While I am sure that we will all get great pleasure and knowledge out of our individual reads, I think we can make our reading experience so much more enjoyable by sharing and comparing. Amara has kindly agreed to let me give it a try, so here goes!

There are so many issues I would love to delve into with you! Of course, the list of topics is by no means intended to be exhaustive, so feel free to add your own observations and thoughts! It would be great if everyone who would like to share his or her thoughts just wrote about what he / she thinks fits his / her book best - that way, we might be able to discover new things in all the books!

Questions / issues I'd like to suggest for discussion are:

- the cover: 1. Description or link 2. Is it suggestive of Russia in any way? How?
- the title (same questions)
- the landscape: What is it like? How is it described?
- Is there anything that makes your text particularly "Russian", or could it be set anywhere? What is this "Russianness" about?
- Are there specific Russian customs that you learn about? What do you think of them? Can you compare them to traditions from your country?
- What character traits are most prominent in the Russian characters? Do the Russian characters get contrasted to others?

Well, this is for starters... please feel free to write about anything that you found remarkable with respect to how Russia, or the Russians get described!

It would be great if you could post some general things about your book before you start, as that will make it so much easier to contextualize your ideas. I'll be starting with my own book in the next post.

Thank you - I am looking forward to this very special discussion!

PS: Remember that we have a common topic, but probably won't be familiar with all of the books that are being read (I, for one, am not!), so this is definitely a good place to remember that there are no stupid questions and that you can - and should! - ask the other participants anything you like.

[Amena]

I am reading:

title: Anna Karenina (German translation)
author: Leo Tolstoy (Russian writer)
first published: 1873-1877
setting: roughly the same time as the publication dates, I think
I have read up to: chapter 18 (and might not finish the novel this month)
The first chapters are set in Moscow.

The first chapters give an overview of the characters and revolve around different aspects of marriage and family life:
1, What happens when a husband betrays his wife, and she finds out? -> guilt, redemption (?), loss of trust; the household peace is shattered
2, becoming of marriageable age / marrying

These themes are universal, yet dealt with in a particular way. The behaviour of young Russian women with respect to marriage (who has the right to choose?) gets openly compared with that of girls from other nations: French parents, it is said (p. 69), decide for their children, while English girls decide for themselves.
Both options are considered "unthinkable" for Russia. The Russian custom is having a "mediator", but even the more conservative characters consider that option laughable in the modern times they live in.
Unfortunately, this means that there is a certain degree of confusion: Who should decide now?

The Russian characters are sure that they cannot simply imitate other nations' ways of dealing with things but have to find their own way - however, they don't know what way that might be. They are very much aware of their own history, but less sure about the future.

[Amara, Group Creator]

Amena wrote: "The behaviour of young Russian women with respect to marriage (who has the right to choose?) gets openly compared with that of girls from other nations: French parents, it is said (p. 69), decide for their children, while English girls decide for themselves.
Both options are considered "unthinkable" for Russia. The Russian custom is having a "mediator", but even the more conservative characters consider that option laughable in the modern times they live in.
Unfortunately, this means that there is a certain degree of confusion: Who should decide now?"

I find that a fascinating issue! Not knowing a thing about Anna Karenina myself, is this a topic that's present in just the beginning of the story or is it the main theme/conflict of the book?

[Lamilla]

No my current read, but worth mentioning:
Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin.
Being Russian myself can't say about "unusual" customs, obviously. But it's a very touching book if you're keen on the weird fiction.

- the cover:
My edition cover: Омон Ра
and the English edition I had has this cover: Omon Ra
They are both related to the content (and USSR)
The title is a word play (omon is a special forces and Amon Ra is a god)
No particular thoughts about the landscape, but there are some very well-known places in Moscow mentioned
- It's a political satire (among other things) so It couldn't be placed anywhere else without global changes
All characters in this book are Russians, naturally

Hope it helps! The book is worth reading, I highly recommend it

[Amara, Group Creator]

Lamilla wrote: "The title is a word play (omon is a special forces and Amon Ra is a god)"

Oh, that's quite clever; I love dual-meaning and/or referential titles like that!

[Amena]

Yes, and the Russian cover is very interesting and evocative, especially the two-faced stone in the middle.

Amara, I try to keep away from summaries of the books I'm reading to avoid being biased, as far as possible. That said, Anna Karenina is, of course, a classic, so I know that it is about the love affair between a married woman (Anna) and a young bachelor, so I suppose that the norms and customs that exist in society for male-female relationships and what happens when they are violated, will play a role.

[Jayme]

I'm not sure if I will get to A Russian themed book this month. School starts soon and it's back to work, but I wanted to comment that I like this idea of a more focused discussion. Even for those who aren't reading it is very interesting to follow. Thanks, Amena and Amara.

[Amara, Group Creator]

Amena wrote: "Amara, I try to keep away from summaries of the books I'm reading to avoid being biased, as far as possible. That said, Anna Karenina is, of course, a classic, so I know that it is about the love affair between a married woman (Anna) and a young bachelor, so I suppose that the norms and customs that exist in society for male-female relationships and what happens when they are violated, will play a role."

Ah, thanks! :)

[Bren]

I read Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay Russian Winter
The cover? -
The cover doesn't 'present' Russia in any way, but as soon as I read the book jacket, I knew it depicted a Russian ballerina.
The plot tells of a ballerina who dances for the Bolshoi Ballet. The time frame is when Stalin 'ruled'. Society is locked down, and even tho you'd think Bolshoi ballerinas have it easy, they don't. No one but Stalin's officials had it easy. The story integrates the challenges Nina faces of being a ballerina, being a young woman, being afraid - all in the time of Stalin. Friends disappear; housing and material goods are restricted. Speech was controlled. People were encouraged to report one another.

The plot bounces from Nina's young adult life/dancing in the Bolshoi Ballet to life in present day USA. During present day, Nina is retired and living in Boston. She defected to the USA when still young.
Nina's story is fascinating. Kalotay paints the Russian winter and the darkness and fear. She contrasts it with the freedom and life of a current day young Boston woman who works in an auction house that is preparing to auction some of Nina's jewelry. The plot understatingly compares Nina's early adult life to Drew's young adult life. And then there is Grigori Solodin, a man that intersects both women.

The 'Russianness' about it is the plot. Maybe the story could take place in any oppressed country - but Kalotay makes the Bolshoi, the Stalin regime, and Russia as important characters in the plot. To remove Russia would be to remove on of the main characters.

The geography of Russia is used in the story as is the hustle/bustle of life in Moscow. The freedom Drew has in Boston is portrayed, too.

To me, Russia was THE major theme in the book. The jewelry and the auction were tools used to bring Nina's dancing and Russian life to the reader. Grigori's story slowly unveils as you see him coping with one foot in his Russian early life and one foot in his current Russian research/quest for answers.

Russian Winter left me thinking!!

[Amara, Group Creator]

Bren wrote: "I read Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay Russian Winter
The cover? -
The cover doesn't 'present' Russia in any way, but as soon as I read the book jacket, I knew i..."

Well, it doesn't quite sound like my kind of book, but it does sound rather intriguing, from what you've said.

[Amena]

Wow, thanks for the in-depth information! Not only have I added this book to my "to-be-read" list, I also know someone whom I could give it to as a present.

Not surprisingly, I'm still reading Anna Karenina.
One topic struck me as possibly "Russian" (also very much connected to that era, internationally): the railway. It plays an important role right at the beginning because Anna meets Vronsky's mother during a railway journey, and because someone dies in a railway accident when they arrive (a bad omen, surely).
I remember a rather philosophical monologue about the railway in Dostoyevsky's "Idiot", so maybe it was particularly important in Russia - not surprisingly, given the vastness of the country!

[Amena]

Hum, at least we now know what kind of cheek a typical Russian has, as Tolstoy tells us: They are "weak / mellow and wrinkly" (p. 342, translation mine). I'm not sure if that's how they are described in the English translation, let alone the Russian original, as I'm reading a German translation.
OK, so Russian men have typically got wrinkly and mellow / weak" cheeks. I'll instantly check some pictures of Putin and see how he compares.

[Julia]

I just posted a separate thread about Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal by Peter Thomson.

Thomson founded the NPR show "Living on Earth"; after 10 years, he took a trip with his brother to see Lake Baikal. The cover is a map, with a photo of Thomson and his brother superimposed. Lake Baikal really IS called the "sacred sea" by the people of Russia, and despite my mixed feeling about the book, it is a wonderful depiction of specific individuals that Thomson met on his journey.

So this book is VERY specifically Russian--and at the same time, Baikal holds 21% of the world's fresh water, so its future is a global concern.

The geography of Baikal is striking--and the generosity and kindness of the people who help Thomson along the way is wonderful. It's not really about a generality called the "Russian people"--rather, Thomson shared specific stories about those he meets--scientists, guides, hosts.

I had a chance to take a group of high school students to Russia before I retired, and much of what Thomson says reminded me of how welcoming and friendly the people were. Despite the language barrier, we were greeted much as Thomson was--although he certainly was in a more rural part of Siberia when on the lake.

What does come through is how very much the people who live near Baikal love that lake--and how vulnerable it will be to climate change issues, as well as human development.

[Lesley]

My Russian read Child of the Kulaks has a wonderful painted image of a birch forest under snow. This conveys well the content of this memoir; the author's childhood struggle and ultimate survival mostly in Siberia during the Bolshevik Revolution. He writes of the bitter cold during the harsh winters, with little clothing and food.

The kulaks were the farmers and estate owners who were considered enemies by Stalin's forces.

This book contains wonderful descriptions of the landscape particularly the Ural Mts and the vastness of Siberia, whilst on board various trains from the Ural Mts over to Vladivostok (the Trans-Siberian ?) then to Harbin.

There is mention of various Russian foods and some of the traditions of rural life, which interest me. I was fascinated by the Siberian landscape when I read
The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia way back in Grade 8 and have been interested in travelling there ever since.