Sofia Khvoshchinskaya, Nora Seligman Favorov (TRN) City Folk and Country Folk

Annotation

';This scathingly funny comedy of manners' by the rediscovered female Russian novelist ';will deeply satisfy fans of 19th-century Russian literature' (Publishers Weekly, starred review). City Folk and Country Folkis a seemingly gentle yet devastating satire of the aristocratic and pseudo-intellectual elites of 1860s Russia. Translated into English for the first time, the novel weaves a tale of manipulation, infatuation, and female assertiveness that takes place one year after the liberation of the empires serfs. Upending Russian literary cliches of female passivity and rural gentry benightedness, Sofia Khvoshchinskaya centers her story on a common-sense, hardworking noblewoman and her self-assured daughter living on their small rural estate. Throwing off the imposed sense of duty toward their betters, these two women ultimately triumph over the urbanites financial, amorous, and matrimonial machinations. Sofia Khvoshchinskaya and her writer sisters closely mirror Britains Bronts, yet Khvoshchinskayas work contains more of Jane Austens wit and social repartee, as well as an intellectual engagement reminiscent of Elizabeth Gaskells condition-of-England novels. Written by a woman under a male pseudonym, this exploration of gender dynamics in post-emancipation Russian offers a new and vital point of comparison with the better-known classics of nineteenth-century world literature.