Peasant Icons Representations of Rural People in Late Nineteenth-Century Russia

by Frierson, Cathy A.

• ISBN13: 9780195072945
• ISBN10: 0195072944
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-02-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the thirty years after Russian peasants were emancipated in 1861, theybecame a major focus of Russian intellectual life. This text is the first toexamine the revealing images of the peasant created by Russian writers,scholars, journalists, and government officials during that period, as theidentity and fate of the Russian peasant became an integral component in thefuture of Russia envisioned by liberal reformers and conservatives alike.Frierson examines the persisting stereotypes created by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky andother intellectuals seeking to understand village life, from the likable narod,the simple folk, to the exploitative kulak, the village strongman.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The 1860's: Setting the Stage

Narod: Passive, Benighted Simple

The Peasant as Judge

The Peasant as Rational Man of the Land

The Communal Peasant

The Gray Peasant: Unadorned and Beseiged

Kulak: The Village Strongman

Baba: The Peasant Woman -- Virago, Eve, or Victim?

Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

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