Description
Book SynopsisRecording Russia examines scenes of listening to the people across a variety of texts by Russian writers and European travelers to Russia. Gabriella Safran challenges readings of these works that essentialize Russia as a singular place where communication between the classes is consistently fraught, arguing instead that, as in the West, the sense of separation or connection between intellectuals and those they interviewed or observed is as much about technology and performance as politics and emotions.
Nineteenth-century writers belonged to a distinctive media generation using new communication technologiesnot bells, but mechanically produced paper, cataloguing systems, telegraphy, and stenography. Russian writers and European observers of Russia in this era described themselves and their characters as trying hard to listen to and record the laboring and emerging middle classes. They depicted scenes of listening as contests where one listener bests anothe
Trade Review
In Recording Russia, Gabriella Safran tells a story about tools that made written records of oral speech, and about the listeners who used them.
Safran's excellent research and analyses on topics ranging from the significance of ringing bells, the impact of affordable paper, and the act of listening as performance art result in a fascinating look at how media, technology, and human imagination worked together to move the educated elites and the common people of 19th-century Russia toward greater understanding of each other. The book helps to reframe and clarify understanding of social change in the period
* Choice *
Recording Russia is original in several respects.
* Slavonic & East European Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Ringing
2. Singing
3. Nesting
4. Crossing
5. Paper-making
6. Dreaming
7. Insulting
8. Laughing
Conclusion
