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Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia (Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian & East European Studies
" . . . a marvelous source for the social history of Russian peasant society in the years before the revolution. . . . The translation is superb." ―Steven Hoch
" . . . one of the best ethnographic portraits that we have of the Russian village. . . . a highly readable text that is an excellent introduction to the world of the Russian peasantry." ―Samuel C. Ramer
Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia provides a unique firsthand portrait of peasant family life as recorded by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, an ethnographer and painter who spent four years at the turn of the twentieth century observing the life and customs of villagers in a central Russian province. Unusual in its awareness of the rapid changes in the Russian village in the late nineteenth century and in its concentration on the treatment of women and children, Semyonova's ethnography vividly describes courting rituals, marriage and sexual practices, childbirth, infanticide, child-rearing practices, the lives of women, food and drink, work habits, and the household economy. In contrast to a tradition of rosy, romanticized descriptions of peasant communities by Russian upper-class observers, Semyonova gives an unvarnished account of the harsh living conditions and often brutal relationships within peasant families.
" . . . one of the best ethnographic portraits that we have of the Russian village. . . . a highly readable text that is an excellent introduction to the world of the Russian peasantry." ―Samuel C. Ramer
Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia provides a unique firsthand portrait of peasant family life as recorded by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, an ethnographer and painter who spent four years at the turn of the twentieth century observing the life and customs of villagers in a central Russian province. Unusual in its awareness of the rapid changes in the Russian village in the late nineteenth century and in its concentration on the treatment of women and children, Semyonova's ethnography vividly describes courting rituals, marriage and sexual practices, childbirth, infanticide, child-rearing practices, the lives of women, food and drink, work habits, and the household economy. In contrast to a tradition of rosy, romanticized descriptions of peasant communities by Russian upper-class observers, Semyonova gives an unvarnished account of the harsh living conditions and often brutal relationships within peasant families.
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 24, 2022
A wild ride from start to finish!
December 7, 2022
( 3 stars )
very interesting required read for my russian history class but! semyonova is so privileged and biased sometimes when she inserts her own thoughts and it’s kinda gross. like we get it, you grew up rich. have some empathy.
very interesting required read for my russian history class but! semyonova is so privileged and biased sometimes when she inserts her own thoughts and it’s kinda gross. like we get it, you grew up rich. have some empathy.
March 4, 2022
Semyonova's ethnography is a fine work when considered as a reaction to the romanticized notions held indulgently by many 19th century aristocrats of rosy cheeked peasants working merrily in fields of golden wheat. But it is, when considered by itself, a fundamentally biased work that has little to no complex understanding of Russia's emancipated population. These failings become obvious when Semyonova admits to thinking that the peasants did not experience emotions or possess empathy, as well as her lack of investigation into viable medicinal traditions within the midwifery practice. With broad generalizations that are difficult to verify, Semyonova reduces a diverse class of Russians (if we can even call them all Russians) into a simple minded, cruel, and superstitious folk.
February 18, 2021
A fascinating insight into Russian peasant life at the turn of the century. The reader must be careful to account for Tian-Shanskaia's biases, but otherwise a really invaluable source for Russian cultural history.
February 4, 2022
It was a pretty good overview of village life in Tsarist Russia. Indeed there were echoes of many of those cultural elements that I remember from my own childhood in Soviet Russia, going to show much of the culture was "preserved".
Somewhat shockingly to my 21st century mind anyhow, was the sheer volume and regularity of domestic abuse both upon women and children in these peasant villages. While domestic violence was largely gone by the time of my upbringing, the fist fights amongst children, hair pulling and ear pulling were still a feature of my Soviet kindergarten.
Anyhow, it does give a different perspective on the village life from that of the Medieval british village, since it was a lot more embedded and first hand. Presumably much of Europe had a similar system since they were all pretty feudal. It is interesting to note that the lack of being able to own property led them to not saving and in general being very wasteful of any surplus, typically simply drinking it away.
There was also a ridiculous amount of animal cruelty in these peasant villages. So it seems the priests really did not know or teach about Jesus's commandments.
It seems that generally their main focus was on revelation and judgement. And they at least had some idea that growing of fruit trees was of God's kingdom, unfortunately due to extreme jealousy they wouldn't actually allow each other to grow fruit or nut trees in general, as they would sabotage each others gardens and fruit orchards.
The infant mortality was also very high, only about 50% of children managed to make it to age 5, due to a combination of extreme neglect and infanticide. The most common method for infanticide was the mother smothering the child. The other most common method of death was via diarrhea, since the children during the phase where they put things in their mouth would be allowed to go around anywhere, putting poop, poison plants, etc in their mouth leading to large amount of diarrhea.
The homes were generally patriarchical, with the daughter going to live with the husbands family, where she was considered to be an additional hand to help with household chores.
I think it is worth archiving, but certainly best to have some kind of warning since has many bad examples and sinful behaviour in it.
Somewhat shockingly to my 21st century mind anyhow, was the sheer volume and regularity of domestic abuse both upon women and children in these peasant villages. While domestic violence was largely gone by the time of my upbringing, the fist fights amongst children, hair pulling and ear pulling were still a feature of my Soviet kindergarten.
Anyhow, it does give a different perspective on the village life from that of the Medieval british village, since it was a lot more embedded and first hand. Presumably much of Europe had a similar system since they were all pretty feudal. It is interesting to note that the lack of being able to own property led them to not saving and in general being very wasteful of any surplus, typically simply drinking it away.
There was also a ridiculous amount of animal cruelty in these peasant villages. So it seems the priests really did not know or teach about Jesus's commandments.
It seems that generally their main focus was on revelation and judgement. And they at least had some idea that growing of fruit trees was of God's kingdom, unfortunately due to extreme jealousy they wouldn't actually allow each other to grow fruit or nut trees in general, as they would sabotage each others gardens and fruit orchards.
The infant mortality was also very high, only about 50% of children managed to make it to age 5, due to a combination of extreme neglect and infanticide. The most common method for infanticide was the mother smothering the child. The other most common method of death was via diarrhea, since the children during the phase where they put things in their mouth would be allowed to go around anywhere, putting poop, poison plants, etc in their mouth leading to large amount of diarrhea.
The homes were generally patriarchical, with the daughter going to live with the husbands family, where she was considered to be an additional hand to help with household chores.
I think it is worth archiving, but certainly best to have some kind of warning since has many bad examples and sinful behaviour in it.
October 23, 2017
A fascinating picture of peasant life in the late 19th century, complete with the most WILD stories you'll ever read. This helps you to understand how poorly women were treated and the interesting family dynamic that existed in these agricultural communities.
The author maintains this very distinct "us vs. them" perspective and straight up patronizes the peasants throughout the book. The editor does a good job of pointing this out and providing additional context. It was interesting to see how Semyonova's own personal experiences and upbringing guided the situations and topics she focused on while observing village life.
The author maintains this very distinct "us vs. them" perspective and straight up patronizes the peasants throughout the book. The editor does a good job of pointing this out and providing additional context. It was interesting to see how Semyonova's own personal experiences and upbringing guided the situations and topics she focused on while observing village life.
April 9, 2023
This is a very good book that helps to explain well the toughness of the Russian people. The youth in rural Russian villages were raised to fight each other and not to play nice. Indeed. You will learn much from reading this book and learn all about the boom and bust cycles of good farming years and bad farming years and how the villagers managed their finances as a result (it's not what you might suspect). You will also learn how brides and grooms met each other, and the good and bad how children and infants in particular were treated.
November 19, 2019
Read for Hist 334: Imperial Russia
December 7, 2022
A good read, quite interesting and I learned a lot. Valuable as a resource for researchers, not necessarily something I’d pick up for my own pleasure.
January 31, 2023
Read this for a class. Overall, very interesting and a very different way of life from what I know.
Read
February 2, 2025Read for class (so idk how helpful a review would be)
March 17, 2013
This was very interesting, even entertaining at times. But the further I got into it, the more I wondered just how plausible it was. The ethnographer made more and more sweeping generalizations about the peasants and there seemed to be a lot of bias and, at times, contradictions. At one point, the same story was told in two very different ways (one version found in her field notes and another in what she had written for publication). I found this very telling. So I find it tainted as a true documentation of much more than upper-class opinion of the peasants.
February 22, 2014
The "ethnography" is complicated by class biases of the author, as well as by her ideological response to the Populist movement, and is therefore problematic. It is difficult to believe that life for the Russian peasant is as cruel and brutal as she described. It is more likely that the writing is a strong reaction to the Romanticized image of the peasant. So I can't say this is a "good" book, not even in the writing style or the evidence.
January 7, 2016
This was a very brutal read but written in a very readable fashion. The writing is more observations and reporting of incidents than academic examinations. I enjoyed the editors introduction and his inserted comments throughout the book. They helped with understanding the writing of the original researcher over a hundred years ago. I recommend this because it takes away the romanticism of the "good ole days."
July 11, 2012
Historians, literary specialists, anthropologists and sociologists -- Russophiles, a must read. Seriously, read this book. I first read it as an undergrad, reading again for a graduate independent study course. It's really excellent.
September 30, 2012
An interesting book covering the life of peasants in late 19th century Russian. I thought their transition from serfs to free people was interesting.
October 28, 2014
A collection of ethnographic research from the era in question. Not written in popular style, but with a lot of details.
June 27, 2025
One of the more bizarre narratives I’ve read, but a cultural history gem and eye opening to the realities of the Russian peasantry.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews