This Meager Nature by Christopher Ely

This Meager Nature by Christopher Ely

Boundless Russia, humble yet full of hidden grandeur—such visions of "the motherland" became crucial markers of Russian national identity. This Meager Nature is the first full-length study to trace the cultural construction of Russia's landscape during the nineteenth century, showing how artistic and literary representations of nature reflected and shaped Russians' ideas about themselves and their nation. In the early 1800s, Russians commonly accepted the European judgment that their land lacked aesthetic value. That view changed with the outpouring of literary and artistic creativity that followed the century's political upheavals. Artists such as Aleksei Savrasov, Fedor Vasil'ev, Ivan Shishkin, and Nikolai Nekrasov turned to their native land and revealed the power of grey skies, vast open fields, and simple birch forests. Russians came to embrace their land's modest beauty, which represented strength and hidden depths. The historical creation of Russia's sense of place resulted not so much from its citizens' encounters with their environment, Ely argues, as from their long-term struggle to distinguish Russia from Europe. The humble beauty of the Russian land served to assert the genuineness of Russia against the inauthenticity of western Europe. For those who embraced it, the "meager" beauty of the landscape provided a powerful means for experiencing and expressing Russian national identity.

An elegant, stimulating and compelling work

* Slavic and East European Journal *

Superbly researched, well written, and incisive.

* The Historian *

[Ely] deftly succeeds in bringing the Russian landscape, as it existed in the imaginations of travel writers, poets, and painters, into a bold new perspective.

* Journal of Modern History *

Christopher Ely is Assistant Professor of History at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University. He lives in West Palm Beach with his wife and two children.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780875803036
ISBN 10	0875803032
Titel	This Meager Nature
Autor	Christopher Ely
Serie	Niu Series In Slavic East European And Eurasian Studies
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Hardback
Verlag	Cornell University Press
Erscheinungsjahr	2002-09-19
Seitenanzahl	290
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar