new book on Russian travel

[Sara Dickinson]

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to announce the publication of a new book (my own) on 
Russian travel and travel writing that might be of interest to some list 
members:

BREAKING GROUND: TRAVEL AND NATIONAL CULTURE IN RUSSIA FROM PETER I TO 
THE ERA OF PUSHKIN

This book examines travel writing’s contribution to the development of a 
Russian national culture from roughly 1700 to 1850, as Russia struggled 
to define itself against Western Europe. Russian examples of literary 
travel writing began with imitative descriptions of grand tours abroad, 
but progressive familiarity with the West and with its literary forms 
gradually enabled writers to find other ways of describing the 
experiences of Russians en route. Blending foreign and native cultural 
influences, writers responded to the pressures of the age—to Catherine 
II, Napoleon, and Nicholas I, for example—both by turning “inward” to 
focus on domestic touring and by rewriting their relationship to the 
West. This book tracks the evolution of literary travel writing in this 
period of its unprecedented popularity and demonstrates how the 
expression of national identity, the discovery of a national culture, 
and conceptions of place—both Russian and Western European—were among 
its primary achievements. These elements also constitute travel 
writing’s chief legacy to prose fiction, “breaking ground” for the later 
masterpieces of writers such as Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. For 
literary scholars, historians, and other educated readers with interests 
in Russian culture, travel writing, comparative literature, and national 
identity.

www.rodopi.nl

Please forgive cross-postings.

Cordially,
Sara Dickinson

Universita' degli Studi di Genova
Sezione di Slavistica
Facolta' di Lingue e Letterature Straniere
piazza Santa Sabina 2
16124 Genova, Italia

tel: 39-010-2099568
e-mail: sara.dickinson at unige.it
sara.dickinson at post.harvard.edu

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