Reading Russian Fortunes - Print Culture, Gender and Divination in Russia From 1765

Klappentext Reading Russian Fortunes examines the huge popularity and cultural impact of fortune-telling among urban and literate Russians from the eighteenth century to the present. Based partly on a study of the numerous editions of little fortune-telling books, especially those devoted to dream interpretation, it documents and analyses the social history of fortune-telling in terms of class and gender, at the same time considering the function of both amateur and professional fortune-telling in a literate modernizing society. Chapters are devoted to professional fortune-tellers and their clients, and to the publishers of the books. An analysis of the relationship between urban fortune-telling and traditional oral culture, where divination played a very significant role, leads on to a discussion of the underlying reasons for the persistence of fortune-telling in modern Russian society. Zusammenfassung This is the first full-length study of the huge cultural impact of fortune-telling in Russia from the eighteenth century to the present. It discusses the links between urban fortune-telling and traditional oral culture the particular role of women! and discusses why fortune-telling is still a powerful force in Russian. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Dreambooks and other fortune-telling guides; 2. Divination in Russian traditional culture; 3. Readers and detractors; 4. Printers and publishers; 5. Women, men and domestic fortune-telling; 6. Fortune-tellers and their clientele; 7. Sages and prophets; 8. Disappearance and revival; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Product details

• Authors: Faith Wigzell, Faith (University of London) Wigzell
• Assisted by: Anthony Cross (Editor), Catriona Kelly (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.05.1998
• EAN: 9780521581233
• ISBN: 978-0-521-58123-3
• No. of pages: 266
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Russian L; Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature
• Subjects: Guides > Spirituality > Life interpretation; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Slavonic linguistics / literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries; Cultural Studies, Russia, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Divination / General, BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Divination / Fortune Telling, Fortune-telling and divination, Fortune-telling & divination