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Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in the age of Catherine the Great. Alexander Radishchev's account of a fictional journey blends literature, philosophy, and political economy to expose social and economic injustices and their causes at all levels of Russian society.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Andrew Kahn and Irina Reyfman
Note on the Text
A.M.K.
1. Departure
2. Sofia
3. Tosna
4. Lyubani
5. Chudovo
6. Spasskaya Polest
7. Podberezye
8. Novgorod
9. Bronnitsy
10. Zaitsovo
11. Kresttsy
12. Yazhelbitsy
13. Valdai
14. Edrovo
15. Khotilov
16. Vyshny Volochok
17. Vydropusk
18. Torzhok
19. Mednoe
20. Tver
21. Gorodnya
22. Zavidovo
23. Klin
24. Peshki
25. Chornaya Gryaz
Notes
About the author
Alexander Radishchev was born in 1749 to a minor noble family and began writing verse and prose in the 1780s. In 1790, after the publication of Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow caused an uproar, he was arrested and sentenced to death before being exiled to Siberia. Tsar Paul allowed him to return, and Alexander I pardoned him and appointed him to the Commission for Drafting of New Laws. Radishchev committed suicide in 1802.
Andrew Kahn is professor of Russian literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
Irina Reyfman is professor of Russian literature in the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia University.
Summary
Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow is among the most important pieces of writing to come out of Russia in the age of Catherine the Great. Alexander Radishchev’s account of a fictional journey blends literature, philosophy, and political economy to expose social and economic injustices and their causes at all levels of Russian society.
Additional text
A fascinating and entertaining read.
