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Black Earth City Charlotte Hobson

Black Earth City By Charlotte Hobson

Black Earth City by Charlotte Hobson


15,49 $
Condition - Very Good
5 in stock

Summary

A collection of travel essays about the disintegration of Russia in 1991. Charlotte Hobson captures the lives of her young contemporaries, including Yegor, and his brutal memories of military service, and Zossya, who stokes the boiler of a house for deaf and dumb people.

Black Earth City Summary

Black Earth City: A Year in Provincial Russia by Charlotte Hobson

The story of a young woman's heady encounter with Russia - and a society in collapse. In 1991, Charlotte Hobson went to study for a year in the provincial town of Voronezh. She captures the lives of her young contemporaries as the Soviet Union breaks up around them: Viktor, and his brutal memories of military service; Lola who sleeps with her fellow students for a share of their dinner; Yakov, blowing a million roubles of the Salvation Army's money on a taxi to Minsk to see a girl. Here too is the author's story and Mitya's. Their love affair begins in a mood of wild optimism. Anything, it seems, is possible. Until in spring the snow thaws, and reveals the black earth beneath.

Black Earth City Reviews

The city in question is Voronezh, the time 1991. Charlotte Hobson went to live there as a language student, soon finding herself in the position of being a witness to momentous events as the Soviet Union crumbled. This account of her year there is sharply and readably written, seamlessly combining autobiography with reportage - and the tale of a love affair with the portrait of a society in crisis. Hobson is particularly revealing and convincing in portraying the situation of post-communist Russians of her own generation (she was born in 1970), through accounts of her friendships with a varied group of students. Vitali Vitaliev, himself no mean commentator on post-Soviet Russia, has praised the book highly - and it's easy to see why. It really does rise above the usual run of my-year-out-in-an-exotic place memoirs. It's a serious and accomplished travel book of real interest.

About Charlotte Hobson

Charlotte Hobson was born in 1970. She studied Russian at Edinburgh University and was awarded an MA by the School of Slavonic Studies in London. An extract from Black Earth City appeared in Granta 64: Russia. Charlotte Hobson lives in Cornwall.

Additional information

GOR002805837
9781862073999
1862073996
Black Earth City: A Year in Provincial Russia by Charlotte Hobson
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Granta Books
2001-06-21
288
Winner of Somerset Maugham Award 2002 Short-listed for Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Black Earth City