fiction, satire, Sofia Khvoshchinskaya, Russia,

Recommended to me by Guy from His Futile Preoccupations (thanks, Guy!), City Folk and Country Folk is a gentle but sophisticated satire from the pen of a 19th century novelist, somewhat in the manner of Jane Austen but without the resolution of the plot with marriage.
Set in the countryside, the story centres on the visits of the nobility to the estate of Nastasya Ivanova Chulkova. Unlike her more sophisticated visitors who move in the best circles and feel entitled to express their disdain, Nastasya, a widow of mature years, is self-sufficient due to her capable management of her estate. Erast Sergeyevich Ovcharov is a pompous, pseudo-intellectual hypochondriac who has neglected his much bigger estate for so long that it is now uninhabitable. So he ends up lodging in Nastasya’s bathhouse while he sorts out his newly legislated responsibilities to his emancipated serfs and indulges his fussy dietary preoccupations. Nastasya isn’t able to offer the hospitality of her house because she already has a most disagreeable visitor, Anna Ilinishna Bobova. Anna has fallen out with her patron Princess Paltseva and somehow has contrived to have nowhere else to go. She is a patronising, sanctimonious woman of ostentatious piety whose condescension flummoxes Nastasya into servile humility.
The one character who sees all this with very clear eyes is 17-year-old Olenka. Wilful, headstrong and intelligent, Olenka finds everything amusing until her temper flares. She can’t bear to see her mother’s anxiety about pleasing these pretentious guests, and when not mocking them behind their backs, she tells her mother exactly what she thinks of them.

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What a wonderful discovery this little gem from Russia’s Golden Age of Literature was. It’s a brilliantly told tale about the clash between various ‘city folks’ and a simple old country woman and her daughter, with fantastic character sketches. A bourgeoisie landowner, a pious “holy” woman, and a bullying matchmaker all look down on the ‘country folks’, yet they themselves are hypocritical and pretentious. Khvoshchinskaya is deft at painting this picture with nuance, she shows insight into human psychology, and her writing is clear and direct. There is also a strong feminist message, as the daughter stands up for herself, and makes quite a hero. Khvoshchinskaya wrote under the pseudonym Ivan Vesenev, and as her sisters Nadezhda and Praskovia wrote as well, it’s hard not to compare them to the Brontë sisters. If this book is any indication, the comparison is apt, and I will have to seek out more of their work. Highly recommended. ( )