★ 08/01/2019
In this lively study, Figes (history, Birkbeck Univ. of London; A People's Tragedy) untangles the fraught relationships among three subjects: operatic diva Pauline Viardot, her husband, Louis, and Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev. (Was Pauline's daughter the product of a liaison with Turgenev?) But he does more than that: using their lives to show how, in the middle of the 19th century, an understanding of art as European, not solely national, slowly emerged. In the process, Figes discusses the impact of the railroad and telegraph on communications and movement, how changes in finance led to transformations in repertoire in opera companies, and the fight of writers and composers to secure international copyright protection. Turgenev was the first Russian author widely read in the West, in part because of his energetic involvement in securing translations of his writings before pirated editions appeared. The cast of characters shows how Turgenev knew and associated with figures such as Gustave Flaubert, Charles Dickens, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Eugène Delacroix, and more. VERDICT Vividly written and meticulously detailed, this book will please lovers of the history of literature and music, at the very least. [See Prepub Alert, 4/15/19.]—David Keymer, Cleveland
07/01/2019
Figes (Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia) weaves this excellent, wide-ranging history of 19th-century Europe around three people: the opera singer Pauline Viardot (1821–1910); her husband, the art critic, theater manager, and translator Louis (1800–1883); and the writer Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883). The link between the arts, commerce, and railway travel in the creation of a holistic European culture is his central theme: according to Figes, “The railways enabled people across Europe to see themselves as ‘Europeans’ in ways they had not done before.” As Figes chronicles Turgenev’s writing and Pauline’s performances, there is a veritable history of the opera and European literature of the period, with appearances from Berlioz, Chopin, Dicken, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Hugo, James, Strauss, Wagner, and Zola. With the discussion of the “new” relationship between the arts and capitalism in the 19th century, Figes not only gives the details of everyone’s income and outlay but chronicles changes in publishing that birthed serialized novels, modern tourist guides, a market for translation, royalties, effective copyright protections, and literary agents. Wars (Franco-Prussian, 1870–1871; Russo-Turkish, 1877–1878) and assorted political upheavals are incorporated, and intrigues, rivalries, affairs, and gossip (Turgenev is “hopelessly in love” with Pauline; he and Dostoevsky feud) add spice. Figes’s history masterfully summarizes this period, albeit sometimes in overwhelming detail, in a persuasive and consistently enlightening fashion. Photos. (Oct.)
A Book of the Year for Spectator, Daily Telegraph, BBC Music Magazine, BBC History Magazine, and Kirkus Reviews
“Brings distant history so close that you can feel its heartbeat.”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard
“Much anticipated ... impressively thorough.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Magnificent. Beautifully written, immaculately researched and thoroughly absorbing from start to finish. A tour de force that explains how Europe’s cultural life transformed during the course of the 19th century—and so much more.”
—Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
“Superbly entertaining and vastly informative, The Europeans show how the enriching, symbiotic internationalism of painters, musicians and writers of 19th century Europe led to the creation of artistic masterpieces that stand among Western civilization’s highest achievements."
—The Washington Post
“With the future of Brexit and the European Union still uncertain, the book, which makes the case that a common European culture once existed and thrived, is doubly relevant today.”
—The New York Times
“Monumental ... Figes's magisterial work will surely come as a welcome vivification of a splendid if vanished way of life.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“It plunged me into another world. I learned so much and was carried away by the intelligence and fluidity of the style—a combination which is unbeatable.”
—Antonia Fraser, author of Mary Queen of Scots
“An extraordinary account of the development of a continental cultured class.”
—Financial Times
“Magnificent and utterly gripping: European identity, culture and commerce through the lives of three remarkable individuals, the book for our times.”
—Phillippe Sands, author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide
“Magisterial, beguiling, searching ... a history of a continent in constant change.”
—William Boyd, The Guardian
"Shaping and sweetening the prodigious array of facts and figures, Figes has wisely chosen to construct his tale around three central personalities of the age, who seem to have known everyone of cultural importance in nineteenth-century Europe ... Moving and enlightening."
—New Criterion
“Meticulously detailed, exhaustively researched and written with Figes’s characteristic verve, The Europeans is a sweeping tour de force and a monumental work of historical synthesis.”
—Julia Coman, The Guardian
“A massive study of nineteenth-century cosmopolitanism, and of the way social changes and technological advancements—railways, steamships, the telegraph, photography—fostered a sense of pan-European identity.”
—Harper’s
“Ambitious, densely woven … Figes shows that entirely unexpected relationships, clashes, and synergies can emerge when talented people from different corners of Europe interact.”
—The Economist
“A prodigiously researched account of the spread of culture throughout the mid and late 19th century … The text is a who’s who of the time period: Liszt, Dickens, Balzac, Hugo, George Sand, Chopin, Tolstoy, Flaubert—these and countless other icons move smoothly through the narrative, a rich mélange of tasty ingredients … A powerful and essential addition to our understanding of European history and culture.”
—Kirkus (starred review)
“Excellent, wide-ranging … Figes masterfully summarizes this period … in a persuasive and consistently enlightening fashion.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“Figes’s deep grasp of the characters and the technology-driven societal upheaval make this cultural history fascinating, even indispensable.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Some writers use a telescope to look at the world, others a microscope. Orlando Figes … uses both to his readers’ constant surprise and delight.”
—The American Scholar
“Timely, brilliant and hugely enjoyable … a magnificently humane book, written with supple grace but firmly underpinned by meticulous scholarship.”
—Sunday Telegraph
“Passionately exuberant … Europe’s dynamic culture comes to life in the tumultuous story of singer Pauline Viardot, her husband, and her lover, Turgenev … Breathtaking."
—Sunday Times
“Remarkable … Orlando Figes is a fine historian who combines scholarly detail with readability. His wide-ranging book touches on a multitude of subjects. But at its heart is a love triangle—the very human story of three remarkable individuals whose lives he has resurrected with great sympathy and insight.”
—Daily Mail
“A brilliant book, enormously impressive.”
—Peter Frankopan, Spectator
“Figes is a fine, subtle writer with a nice eye for detail and clever with structure. I finished the book entertained, informed and armed with the kinds of insights and questions that will keep me happily going for the rest of the year.”
—The Times
“An exhilarating whirl through 19th-century Europe … should enchant anyone interested in the cultural revolutions of the 19th century.”
—BBC History Magazine
“A kaleidoscopic survey of European high culture from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, encompassing everything from painting and railways to politics and music, as rich and densely packed as a fruitcake.”
—Country Life
“Wonderful … Figes delivers a riveting examination of the nuts and bolts of high culture. … No aspect of the business of culture escapes his notice.”
—Air Mail
“I loved the book. I read it in every spare moment, fascinated and sometimes surprised. All of the principal characters are inspiring, but The Europeans also shows the struggles and backbiting and mistakes which can also lie behind a repertoire we tend to take for granted. I have been speaking about the book to everyone I know: it is clearly not just a book for musicians but for the widest audience interested in literature, music and art."
—Barbara Hannigan
★ 2019-07-15
A prodigiously researched account of the spread of culture throughout the mid and late 19th century using three specific biographies to personalize the voluminous historical data.
Figes (History/Birkbeck Coll., Univ. of London; Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991, 2014, etc.) returns with another astonishing work displaying his vast knowledge of art, music, literature, culture, and history. Wisely, he uses three people to embody much of his discussion: Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, French singer Pauline Viardot, and her husband, Louis, a political activist and literary figure. The author follows these three over the decades—Turgenev and Pauline had an intimate relationship that Louis tolerated—and through their stories, we see specific instances of the cultural changes Figes illuminates throughout the book. The growth of railways, the advances in photography and publication, the explosion in literary translations, the vast increase in literacy—these and other factors increased the development of a kind of common European culture that only the growth of nationalism, and the consequent wars, could weaken. "The arts played a central role in this evolving concept of a European cultural identity," writes Figes. "More than religion or political beliefs, they were seen as uniting people across the Continent." This necessitated the "recognition that any national culture is a result of a constant dialogue across state boundaries and of the assimilation of separate artistic traditions into a larger European world." Turgenev and the Viardots traveled continually: She was a popular singer, and, initially, it was her financial success that supported her family. Later, her voice gone, it was Turgenev's writing and generosity. In many ways, the text is a who's who of the time period. Liszt, Dickens, Balzac, Hugo, George Sand, Chopin, Tolstoy, Flaubert—these and countless other icons move smoothly through the narrative, a rich mélange of tasty ingredients. There are some mild surprises, too: Mary Shelley briefly wanders in (we read Victor Frankenstein's description of the Rhine), and Henry James makes some cameos.
A powerful and essential addition to our understanding of European history and culture.