An Ordinary Marriage

An Ordinary Marriage PDF Author: Katherine Pickering Antonova
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190616741
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
An Ordinary Marriage is the story of the Chikhachevs, middling-income gentry landowners in nineteenth-century provincial Russia. In a seemingly strange contradiction, the mother of this family, Natalia, oversaw serf labor and managed finances while the father, Andrei, raised the children, at a time when domestic ideology advocating a woman's place in the home was at its height in European advice manuals. But Andrei Chikhachev defined masculinity as a realm of intellectualism; the father could be in charge of moral education, defined as an intellectual task. Managing estates that often barely yielded a livable income was a practical task and therefore considered less elevated, though still vitally important to the family's interests. Thus estate management was available to gentry women like Natalia Chikhacheva, and the fact that it inevitably expanded their realm of influence and opportunity (within the limits of their estates), and that it increased their centrality to the family's material security relative to their social counterparts to the west, was accidental. An Ordinary Marriage examines the daily activities and ideas of the family based on multiple overlapping diaries and informal correspondence by the husband, wife, and son of the family, as well as the wife's brother. No such cache of intimate Russian family documents has ever previously been studied in such depth. The family's relative obscurity (with no pretensions to fame, wealth, or influence) and the presence of a woman's private documents are especially unusual in any context. The book considers the Chikhachevs' social life, reading habits, attitudes toward illness and death, as well as their marital roles and their reception of major ideas of their time, such as domesticity, Enlightenment, sentimentalism, and Romanticism.

An Ordinary Marriage

An Ordinary Marriage PDF Author: Katherine Pickering Antonova
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190616741
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
An Ordinary Marriage is the story of the Chikhachevs, middling-income gentry landowners in nineteenth-century provincial Russia. In a seemingly strange contradiction, the mother of this family, Natalia, oversaw serf labor and managed finances while the father, Andrei, raised the children, at a time when domestic ideology advocating a woman's place in the home was at its height in European advice manuals. But Andrei Chikhachev defined masculinity as a realm of intellectualism; the father could be in charge of moral education, defined as an intellectual task. Managing estates that often barely yielded a livable income was a practical task and therefore considered less elevated, though still vitally important to the family's interests. Thus estate management was available to gentry women like Natalia Chikhacheva, and the fact that it inevitably expanded their realm of influence and opportunity (within the limits of their estates), and that it increased their centrality to the family's material security relative to their social counterparts to the west, was accidental. An Ordinary Marriage examines the daily activities and ideas of the family based on multiple overlapping diaries and informal correspondence by the husband, wife, and son of the family, as well as the wife's brother. No such cache of intimate Russian family documents has ever previously been studied in such depth. The family's relative obscurity (with no pretensions to fame, wealth, or influence) and the presence of a woman's private documents are especially unusual in any context. The book considers the Chikhachevs' social life, reading habits, attitudes toward illness and death, as well as their marital roles and their reception of major ideas of their time, such as domesticity, Enlightenment, sentimentalism, and Romanticism.

The Dry Heart

The Dry Heart PDF Author: Natalia Ginzburg
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811228797
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
Finally back in print, a frighteningly lucid feminist horror story about marriage The Dry Heart begins and ends with the matter-of-fact pronouncement: “I shot him between the eyes.” As the tale—a plunge into the chilly waters of loneliness, desperation, and bitterness—proceeds, the narrator's murder of her flighty husband takes on a certain logical inevitability. Stripped of any preciousness or sentimentality, Natalia Ginzburg's writing here is white-hot, tempered by rage. She transforms the unhappy tale of an ordinary dull marriage into a rich psychological thriller that seems to beg the question: why don't more wives kill their husbands?

The Path of Razors

The Path of Razors PDF Author: Chris Marie Green
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101105275
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Stuntwoman-turned-vampire hunter Dawn Madison is in London to find the local vampire Underground and wipe it out. But her own encounter with the bloodsuckers is beginning to affect her in some very sinister ways.

A Proposal They Can't Refuse

A Proposal They Can't Refuse PDF Author: Natalie Caña
Publisher: MIRA
ISBN: 0369718445
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
“Utterly charming… A Proposal They Can't Refuse is a surefire winner!” —Mia Sosa, USA Today bestselling author of The Worst Best Man Natalie Caña turns up the heat, humor and heart in this debut rom-com about a Puerto Rican chef and an Irish American whiskey distiller forced into a fake engagement by their scheming octogenarian grandfathers. Kamilah Vega is desperate to convince her family to update their Puerto Rican restaurant and enter it into the Fall Foodie Tour. With the gentrification of their Chicago neighborhood, it's the only way to save the place. The fly in her mofongo—her blackmailing abuelo says if she wants to change anything in his restaurant, she'll have to marry the one man she can't stand: his best friend’s grandson. Liam Kane spent a decade working to turn his family’s distillery into a contender. But just as he and his grandfather are on the verge of winning a national competition, Granda hits him with a one-two punch: he has cancer and has his heart set on seeing Liam married before it’s too late. And Granda knows just the girl…Kamilah Vega. If they refuse, their grandfathers will sell the building that houses both their businesses. With their futures on the line, Kamilah and Liam plan to outfox the devious duo, faking an engagement until they both get what they want. But soon, they find themselves tangled up in more than either of them bargained for.

Vendetta Girl (A Natalia Nicolaeva Thriller Book 2)

Vendetta Girl (A Natalia Nicolaeva Thriller Book 2) PDF Author: Kenneth Rosenberg
Publisher: Kenneth Rosenberg
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Natalia Nicolaeva is off to study in St. Petersburg, Russia, but when another student is murdered, her life goes spiraling out of control once more. She could choose to just stay out of it, but then, that's not really Natalia's nature. Instead, she opts for the opposite tactic; doing whatever she can to make the killers pay for their crimes. Vendetta Girl follows Natalia through a labyrinth of Russian computer hackers, corrupt government officials and professional hitmen as she struggles to put together the pieces of a deadly conspiracy. Nobody is quite who they seem in this fast-paced thriller and the only person Natalia can fully trust is herself.

Noxious

Noxious PDF Author: Cori Nevruz
Publisher: 5310 Publishing
ISBN: 1998839230
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Finally free of her mother’s controlling ways, Natalia, a quirky misfit, heads to New York City after learning her family’s darkest secret—Daniel, a stepbrother previously unknown to her. With her desire to be loved and accepted by someone for the first time, Natalia pretends to be the person her half-brother expects. However, behind his back, Natalia is someone completely different. Natalia works for Stuart, a powerful and eccentric corporate executive, eliminating costly retired pension recipients one by one. Not completely without emotion or a moral compass, Natalia tries to find annoying habits or irritating personality traits to justify her doings. Getting better at what she does, with good reason and even better pay in hand, she makes each hit look like natural causes. But after spending more time with Stuart, his wife, and a new love interest, the innocent facade she presents to Daniel begins to crack and her true colors start to slip through. With Daniel’s suspicion growing, Natalia finds herself at a crossroads: either conform to Daniel's expectations or embrace her true identity.

Notebooks: 1936-1947

Notebooks: 1936-1947 PDF Author: Victor Serge
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1681372703
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
Available for the first time, Victor Serge's intimate account of the last decade of his life gives a vivid look into the Franco-Russian revolutionary's life, from his liberation from Stalin's Russia to his "Mexico Years," when he wrote his greatest works. In 1936, Victor Serge—poet, novelist, and revolutionary—left the Soviet Union for Paris, the rare opponent of Stalin to escape the Terror. In 1940, after the Nazis marched into Paris, Serge fled France for Mexico, where he would spend the rest of his life. His years in Mexico were marked by isolation, poverty, peril, and grief; his Notebooks, however, brim with resilience, curiosity, outrage, a passionate love of life, and superb writing. Serge paints haunting portraits of Osip Mandelstam, Stefan Zweig, and “the Old Man” Trotsky; argues with André Breton; and, awaiting his wife’s delayed arrival from Europe, writes her passionate love letters. He describes the sweep of the Mexican landscape, visits an erupting volcano, and immerses himself in the country’s history and culture. He looks back on his life and the fate of the Revolution. He broods on the course of the war and the world to come after. In the darkest of circumstances, he responds imaginatively, thinks critically, feels deeply, and finds reason to hope. Serge’s Notebooks were discovered in 2010 and appear here for the first time in their entirety in English. They are a a message in a bottle from one of the great spirits, and great writers, of our shipwrecked time.

A Broken Paradise Series

A Broken Paradise Series PDF Author: Ellie Williams
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1481786296
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 789

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Book Description
THE ALLIANCE Second installment to the A Broken Paradise Series. "Oh my god!" "WENI!" "WENI!, open your eyes!" "What happened?" "CUALLI!" "What's happened to Weni, Cualli?." Sheriton asked, tears already welling up in her eyes. "I know this is a little hard to understand right now." I began again, "I know right now you're all just thinking about the fact that she's gone, but there is still hope, there is still hope that this can work." "THAT IS NOT WENI!!" Sheriton screamed at me. "What happens if people find out? What if Damson finds out." Tess blurted out. "The Alliance will fall apart?" Perri mumbles under his breath. Galina wiped her tears. "Awen is still in there, that body is still hers." "How can you trust her?" Tess asked. "I don't think it's a case of trust right now...." Ceri said as he got to his feet and walked to Galina and Sheriton. "She's keeping my sister alive."

The House in the Garden

The House in the Garden PDF Author: John Randolph
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501732307
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
"Aspiring thinkers require a stage for their performance and an audience to help give their actions distinction and meaning. To be made durable and influential, their charismatic stories have to be framed by supporting ideals, practices, and institutions. Although the biographies of the Empire's most famous thinkers have a comfortable platform in modern Russia's printed record, scholars have yet to explore fully the intimate context surrounding their activities in the early nineteenth century. There is, as a result, a certain homeless quality to our understandings of Imperial Russian culture, which this history of one extremely productive home will help us correct."—from The House in the Garden The House in the Garden explores the role played by domesticity in the making of Imperial Russian intellectual traditions. It tells the story of the Bakunins, a distinguished noble family who in 1779 chose to abandon their home in St. Petersburg for a rustic manor house in central Russia's Tver Province. At the time, the Russian government was encouraging its elite subjects to see their private lives as a forum for the representation of imperial virtues and norms. Drawing on the family's vast archive, Randolph describes the Bakunins' attempts to live up to this ideal and to convert their new home, Priamukhino, into an example of modern civilization. In particular, Randolph shows how the Bakunin home fostered the development of a group of charismatic young students from Moscow University, who in the 1830s sought to use their experiences at Priamukhino to reimagine themselves as agents of Russia's enlightenment. Some of the story Randolph tells is familiar to historians. The anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, whose early philosophical evolution Randolph describes, was born at Priamukhino, while the radical critic Vissarion Belinsky claimed to have been transformed by his experiences there. When Tom Stoppard sought to portray the spiritual history of the Russian intelligentia in his trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, he chose Priamukhino as the scene for act 1. Yet Randolph's research allows us to watch this drama from a radically different perspective. It shows how the culture of Russian Idealism—so long presumed to be a product of alienation—actually relied on the support provided by the cult of distinction that the Russian government had built around noble homes. It also allows us to see the other actors and agents of private life—and most notably, the Bakunin women—as participants in the creation of modern Russian social thought. The result is a work that revises our understanding of Russian intellectual history while also contributing to the histories of women, gender, private life, and memory in nineteenth-century Russia.

My Friend Natalia: A Novel

My Friend Natalia: A Novel PDF Author: Laura Lindstedt
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631498185
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
New York Times Book Review • Editors' Choice Entertainment Weekly • Best Books of the Month Buzzfeed • Spring Books We Couldn't Put Down One of Finland’s most dynamic novelists bursts onto the American literary scene with this erotic story of an ambitious therapist’s sessions with an unforgettable patient. Natalia cannot stop thinking about sex. With this mesmerizing tale of one woman’s potent affliction, award-winning Finnish writer Laura Lindstedt makes her American debut. Narrated by an unnamed, ungendered therapist who leaps at the chance to employ their most experimental methods, My Friend Natalia offers a gripping examination of the power dynamics always present but rarely ever spoken about in therapy. “Something flared within me,” the therapist notes, “and it wasn’t merely sympathy, the emotion I feel for most of my clients. It was more like a sudden experience of harmony, wholly inappropriate given the circumstances.” It is clear from the moment Natalia barges into her new therapist’s office that she has motives beyond simply fixing her sex life. She is quick to mention that the same exact painting hanging on the therapist’s wall—an abstract piece titled Ear-Mouth—once hung in her grandmother’s living room. This comment deeply unsettles the therapist, as does the large alarm clock that Natalia brings with her, intent on timing the sessions herself. And the tape recorder. At first, Natalia seems to play along with the rules of therapy. She partakes in the therapist’s pain-displacement exercises, word games, and even produces a few anatomical illustrations. She muses on the art of pornography, and boldly examines seminal figures like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, about whom she poses the question, “Did Jean-Paul consider Simone a woman at all? Or was she nothing but a pencil sharpener?” By combining philosophy and literature, repressed childhood memories and explicitly unrepressed erotic experiences, the sessions quickly shed all inhibitions. Still, the therapist can’t help but wonder: What does Natalia really want? Brilliantly translated by the award-winning David Hackston, My Friend Natalia buzzes in prose charged with sharp banter and double entendres as the therapist hurls strange—and hilarious—experimental exercises at Natalia, and their work builds to an explosive climax. In taking a deconstructive yet utterly scintillating approach to the self-help narratives of our time, Laura Lindstedt emerges as a rare and unflinching international literary talent.