“Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia”, by Orlando Figes

544 pages, Metropolitan Books, ISBN-13: 978-0805057836

Although Orlando Figes takes the title Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia from Natasha's dance in War and Peace, he could have just as easily used Chichikov from Dead Souls as his vehicle, as he takes the reader along on a wild ride through Russia's rich cultural history. Figes has organized his book thematically, with each chapter exploring a different, compelling set of Russian ideas that revolve around the East-West duality that is so apparent in the works of great Russian artists, writers and musicians. I noticed, however, that Figes seems to be more at home when exploring the themes found in the great classical compositions, providing wonderful character sketches of composers such as Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.

Figes's expansive discussion of cultural influences and trends in Russian history opens with the reign of Peter the Great and runs through the first half of the 20th Century, making only brief forays into the era before 1700 (e.g., the lingering effects of the Mongol invasion) and sketchily scanning the years after Stalin in a final chapter on exiles from the Soviet Union. That's over 250 years of Russian cultural history in 600 pages, and the author's focus allows him to analyze what are surely the most formative years of the Russian Empire. Although Figes occasionally examines the visual arts, architecture, politics and scholarship, he primarily discusses music, performance art and, above all, literature. Even then, there's a lot to absorb yet, remarkably, Natasha's Dance is a refreshing survey that will not only motivate many readers (including yours truly) to run out and buy some of the novels and orchestral works he mentions, but also provides a framework for appreciating all those newly purchased books and CDs.

It's not easy to summarize the themes that, according to Figes, pervade most of Russia's culture (and politics); at the risk of oversimplification, one could say that Natasha's Dance views the last three centuries of Russian History as a clash of dualities: Peter the Great opened Russia to European exchanges and, by the end of his reign, society in St. Petersburg was emulating Parisian trends to the point of caricature: "the aristocracy had become so bilingual that they slipped quite easily and imperceptibly from Russian into French and back again. Letters of a page or so could switch a dozen times, sometimes in the middle of a sentence". During the 19th Century, however, many writers and artists longed to pull Russia back to its roots, and they found their "lost" heritage reflected in the eyes of the peasantry (the war with Napoleon only hastened this retrenchment). Thus, for example, one sees the unintentionally comical specter of Tolstoy trying to be like his serfs: "he idealized the peasants and loved to be with them, but for many years he could not bring himself to break from the conventions of society and become one himself". More seriously, by the beginning of the 20th Century, fine art was influenced less by European expectations and more by folk art and peasant dances (compare, for example, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake with Stravinksy's Firebird). Nevertheless, the aristocracy continued to remain aloof from the "more Russian" customs of the peasantry – for many, the folk traditions never rose above a trendy curiosity – and this dissonance contributed to the tensions that led to the Russian Revolution.

I thought Natasha's Dance was one of the best books I have ever read on Russia; in 500 beautifully written pages or so, Figes manages to say an awful lot, not just about the Russian arts and literature, nor simply about Russia as a place, its history, its customs, its religious traditions, but about that thing we call "culture". Figes shows how the arts were intertwined with politics, religion, folklore and beliefs, to create a "national consciousness". His main argument – that Russian culture was defined by a dialogue between the high culture of the aristocracy and the folk culture of the peasantry – is brilliantly developed and original.