Face of Russia: Anguish, Aspiration, and Achievement in Russian Culture

New York: TV Books, 1998. Presumed first edition/first printing. Hardcover. Good in very good dust jacket. Rear board weak and strengthened with glue. DJ has slight wear, soiling, and edge wear.. 269 p. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. When the Soviet communist empire was overthrown by the Russians themselves in August 1991, the change was more clearly anticipated by humanistic students of creativity than by economic and political scientists surrounded by statistics and information. Does the Russian pattern of creativity provide any hints as to how the Russians might solve their problems today? Having borrowed the democratic political model of their erstwhile American enemy, will they be able to create a distinctive Russian variant that can endure? Or will they end up destroying their own experiment at accountable, constitutional government and returning to their long tradition of authoritarianism? The Face of Russia addresses these++ questions. This is a dazzling and forward-looking history of the Russian people as told through their art--from one of the world's great experts on Russian culture. The story covers 800 years of Russian creativity, and introduces us to the new art forms that burst onto the Russian scene, and became the vehicles for expressing the creative aspirations of an age as well as the enduring Russian quest to find salvation and entertainment in art. The Face of Russia is divided into five parts: The Face on the Firewood--Russian Painting; The Facade of Power--Russian Architecture; Speech after Silence--Russian Literature; The Sound of Suffering--Russian Music; The Face of the Future.