Four Russian Serf Narratives

Four Russian Serf Narratives
Author :
Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages : 237
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780299233730
ISBN-13 : 0299233731
Rating : 4/5 (30 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Four Russian Serf Narratives by : John MacKay

Download or read book Four Russian Serf Narratives written by John MacKay and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2009-11-24 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although millions of Russians lived as serfs until the middle of the nineteenth century, little is known about their lives. Identifying and documenting the conditions of Russian serfs has proven difficult because the Russian state discouraged literacy among the serfs and censored public expressions of dissent. To date scholars have identified only twenty known Russian serf narratives. Four Russian Serf Narratives contains four of these accounts and is the first translated collection of autobiographies by serfs. Scholar and translator John MacKay brings to light for an English-language audience a diverse sampling of Russian serf narratives, ranging from an autobiographical poem to stories of adventure and escape. “Autobiography” (1785) recounts a highly educated serf’s attempt to escape to Europe, where he hoped to study architecture. The long testimonial poem “News About Russia” (ca. 1849) laments the conditions under which the author and his fellow serfs lived. In “The Story of My Life and Wanderings” (1881) a serf tradesman tells of his attempt to simultaneously escape serfdom and captivity from Chechen mountaineers. The fragmentary “Notes of a Serf Woman” (1911) testifies to the harshness of peasant life with extraordinary acuity and descriptive power. These accounts offer readers a glimpse, from the point of view of the serfs themselves, into the realities of one of the largest systems of unfree labor in history. The volume also allows comparison with slave narratives produced in the United States and elsewhere, adding an important dimension to knowledge of the institution of slavery and the experience of enslavement in modern times.


Four Russian Serf Narratives Related Books

Four Russian Serf Narratives
Language: en
Pages: 237
Authors: John MacKay
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-11-24 - Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Although millions of Russians lived as serfs until the middle of the nineteenth century, little is known about their lives. Identifying and documenting the cond
The Road to Serfdom
Language: en
Pages: 296
Authors: F. A. Hayek
Categories: Business & Economics
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-08-13 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A classic work in political philosophy, intellectual history and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians and scholars for half a
The Institutional Framework of Russian Serfdom
Language: en
Pages: 275
Authors: Tracy Dennison
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-04-28 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Russian rural history has long been based on a 'Peasant Myth', originating with nineteenth-century Romantics and still accepted by many historians today. In thi
The Road to Serfdom
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: John Blundell
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the last years of World War II, Friedrich Hayek wrote 'The Road to Serfdom'. He warned the Allies that policy proposals which were being canvassed for the po
Escape
Language: en
Pages: 442
Authors: Carolyn Jessop
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-10-16 - Publisher: Crown

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The dramatic true story of one woman’s life inside the ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect featured in Keep Sweet: Pray