A Year in Russia
9781465684868
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
This book is nothing else but a collection of notes, a bundle of impressions gathered during a year’s stay in Russia. It lays no claim to be either exhaustive or even of any practical use to the serious student of the Russian Evolution. It is written for the ignorant, and with the object of helping them to decide whether they wish to take an interest in what is now happening in Russia, or not. I cannot take them into the house and show them all over it from floor to ceiling with the knowledge and authority of a master builder; all I can do is to open a small window and ask them to look through it and observe certain things, pointing out how far these things are typical of the whole; and my hope is that the glimpses I have given them will enable them to decide whether they wish to go and knock at the front door and investigate for themselves. This book consists solely of a record of things I have seen and heard myself in Russia during an interesting year of the history of that country. My experience of English opinion on Russian things has convinced me that in order to make such a record as intelligible as possible, a great deal of introduction and explanation would be necessary. The reason of this is that the ignorance in England about Russia is extraordinary; and most of the current literature—I mean the books published on Russian affairs—instead of dispelling that ignorance, succeed rather in increasing it. Russia and Russian affairs are so little known in England that the country has proved a happy hunting ground for sensational writers of fiction and still more sensational purveyors of facts. Leaving the writers of fiction out of the question, the chief bar which seems to separate writers about Russia from a just estimate and a valuable appreciation of that country is the language. It is possible to convey information about Russia if you are ignorant of the Russian language; and such information may prove to be not only useful, but of surprising interest to people who are totally ignorant of the country. But unless you are acquainted with the Russian language it is impossible to acquire an intimate knowledge of the Russian people, and it is difficult to understand many things which happen in Russia. I had, therefore, the intention, before proceeding to a record of any things I had seen myself, to collect and convey the impressions I had received of the Russian character and of Russian life in various classes, correcting and illustrating my impressions by those of others who have worked in the same field, and by evidence drawn from Russian literature. I meant to try and illustrate books by examples taken from life, and throw light on events and people by examples taken from literature; but I found when I began to do this that the writing of such an introduction was equivalent to the writing of two large books, one on the Russian people and one on Russian literature, a task which I still hope to accomplish some day, but for which I do not at present feel sufficiently equipped. Moreover, even were I sufficiently equipped, the writing of two such books cannot be accomplished in a hurry in a country which is in a state of political effervescence. I have therefore sadly resigned myself to work backwards, and give to the public my record of raw facts first and the explanation at a later date.
