Thedissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in the creation of fifteen nation-states including Ukraine and Estonia, while 1993 saw the end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia, becoming the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These nations are featured here in my second-to-last fashion plate post with costumes honoring easier days of traditional ethnic dress.
Leo Tolstoy could be argued as the conscience of Russian peasants by his fictional writing in the classic Anna Karenina.Tolstoy was in fact a nobleman and landowner yet he adorned himself in smocks and meager dress, fashioning humility as he wrote of earthly indulgences and subtle sermons on the wickedness of the human condition.
The dress of laborers is also honored in a 1936 Soviet Union publication on a revered textile workerinMiss USSR where a young woman’s 10-hour days and record-breaking statistics on factory looms are lauded as joyful. Her uniform is a black silk blouse and skirt and her profile is documented as “slim” and “little.”
Yet, as with the earliest civilizations there is a place for costume, for adornment that celebrates more than the work of our hands or size of our bodies, whether a farmer’s, a writer’s, or a weaver’s; we yearn for the occasion allowing ornamentation that arouses our senses and inflames our imaginations.
My first fashion plate is titled the USSR Plume Dress, perhaps interpreted by some as a peacock’s egoism; the second plate may be favored by fan-followers of Egon Schiele, while the last crowns brawn and might.
Here is a listing of sources from the UWM Special Collections and the UWM American Geographical Society Library that I have augmented with digital color and outline to emphasize particular details of my inspiration:
1, 8) Wood-engravings by Nikolas Piskariov as featured in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina; published in the USSR in 1933 and printed by the Limited Editions Club, respectively titled Anna’s Fall and Head-Piece to Part the Fifth.
2-4) My contemporary designs of the USSR Plume Dress, Estonian Edith Dress, and Czech Crown Dress based on maps from the collection of the UWM American Geographical Society Library that show iconic costumes, respectively titled Russian Empire 1757, published in Augsburg, GE by Augustae Vindel in 1757; Folklore Map of Czechoslovakia, published in Czechoslovakia by the Ministerstvo Informaci in 1948; Parishes of Estonia 2010, published by the AS Regio in 2010.
3) Black and white drawing of Czechoslovakian dress by Belle Northrup in A Short Description of Historic Fashionpublished by Columbia University’s Teachers College in 1925.
5) Photograph of Dusya Vinogradovo a 21-year old woman dubbed Miss USSR: The Story of a Girl Stakhanovite, the Soviet Union’s leader in weaving production and noted to be every young person’s friend as she was “free and happy”; published in New York by International Publishers in 1936.
6, 7) Illustrations by Noel L. Nisbet from the collection of Russian Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, published in London by George G. Harrap & CO in 1916, respectively titled They Came to the Place Where He Had Left Her and His Wife Caressed and Wheedled Him.
Hello friends! Today I decided to create a post that is somewhat less conventional, but still quite relevant. Since I’m a student that apart from studying also loves to read, this post will be dedicated entirely to reading classics and how to enjoy reading them! When I first started out I probably felt the same things many people feel when they first start reading classics, especially in school, but I can promise you, once you start to read them more, you’ll start to actually like them. In any case, below you’ll find a list of tips and recommendations I wish to share with you, so I hope you like it :)
1. Where/how to start
Getting started with classics is for many people the biggest obstacle, but you can overcome your fear of classics by just simply starting to read them. However, where many people go wrong, is that they don’t choose their first classics wisely and will be appalled by them because of it. But worry not, below is a list of some of (personal) recommendations of classics generally considered enjoyable. If you feel like this is a step too big, you can also start off by watching some good TV/movie adaptations of classics, which are included as well.
2. Recommendations below 200 pages
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde (very hilarious)
Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy
Silas Marner - George Eliot
Persuasion - Jane Austen
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (the classic Christmas read)
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
A Room With a View - E.M. Forster
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
3. Recommendations beyond 200 pages
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien (yes, this is a classic)
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
Emma - Jane Austen
The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë (one of my favourite books of all time)
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (a gigantic 1400 pages)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë (super feminist!)
Reading classics is at some point a kind of trial-and-error experience, so I suggest that you begin by reading a wide variety of shorter classics from which you can gradually decide upon the types of classics you do like and the types you don’t. Once you discover the time/era, writing style, themes, and place you favour, it’s much easier and enjoyable to read more classics, and lengthier ones as well. Reading classics does not mean that you have to read within all times or eras, but you can also enjoy one particular era as well (I personally love the 1850-1900 era). In the end, you should have a pretty good idea of what you like, and trust me, reading classics will by no means be scary anymore!
7. How to enjoy them at school
Once you have familiarised with classics, you’ll also have familiarised with the writing style and the types of stories. This means that reading classics in school will be much easier to do as well, because it will help you spend much less time worrying about the book, but can instead help you enjoy and appreciate it. Truly, not all the books you’ll read in school will be fun or good, but just remember that not all classics are like that! If you’re lucky enough to read a book that you do like, you’ll read it much quicker and understand a lot better now that you know in what context it can be placed. If you still feel scared, please watch this video, it does wonders.
This post turned out to be longer than expected, but hopefully it can help all of you out! If you have any questions about this post, or more general things (or if you’d like to talk to me about books), you can always send me an ask. See you next time!
The story spins around a romantic affair between a married woman and a military man (for whom the word “dashing” may have been invented) which ruins her life and scandalises the upper classes of Moscow and St. Petersburg in the mid-1800s.
Why doesn’t she just [whatever]?
Because she’s a woman. One theme of the novel is the jarringly different experience of society for men and women. There are actions and even behaviours which are simply not available to the female characters without catastrophic consequences but which the male characters take for granted. The mere act of existing inside the traditional roles expected by society can be soul-crushing for women.
I’m 500 pages in. What’s all this agricultural stuff with the peasant? Do I need to know how to run a Russian estate? Do I have to read it?
You don’t have to do anything, but if you’ve read Game of Thrones and you can’t handle long explorations of how most people live most of their lives wandering around a seemingly endless series of ritual chores, you should present yourself to the relevant authorities at first light.
What should I say to make people think I’ve read it?
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
What should I avoid saying when trying to convince people I’ve read it?
“She deserves everything she gets.”
Should I actually read it?
Yes. If you’ve ever had a problem with someone you loved, there is something in here for you.
When Leo Tolstoy said “Is anything - not even happiness but just not torment - possible?” And Charles Bukowski said “We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain.”
