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At the end of the 1830s, during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, two
famous accounts, through foreign eyes, were being written about
Russia. By far the better known one is the Marquis de Custine's
Russia in 1839. For all its brilliance, however, it doesn't begin
to compete with J. G. Kohl's slightly later work, just called
Russia, when it comes to thoroughness, range and sympathy of
observation. Kohl was a German. Unlike de Custine, who only made a
brief visit, he spent several years in Russia. He assimilated
himself, learnt the language and enjoyed the experience. He set
himself the task of writing about 'general features and popular
manners of a large portion of the Russian Empire'. and succeeded
with warm-heartedness and tolerance. It is refreshing to read such
a positive account. For example, St Petersburg appeared to him not
only a beautiful but a cheerful city with its dashing izvoztchiks,
its crowded market-places, its frequent fetes, when high and low
mixed together. He was not afraid of paradox, of Russia itself
writing, 'There is perhaps no country in the world where all
classes are so intimately connected with each other as in this vast
empire, or so little divided into castes. Contrary to the
prevailing belief, in no country are the extremes of society
brought into more frequent contact, and in few are the transitions
from one class to another more frequent or sudden. The peasant
becomes a priest on the same day perhaps than an imperial mandate
degrades the noble to a peasant or to a Siberian colonist.
Hereditary rank is disregarded while public services often lead
rapidly to the highest dignities. Even serfs are more nomadic in
their habits than our free German peasants.' The English
translation was first published in 1842.
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