In the Russian Land

Legras, Jules, 1866-1939Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 476K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Au pays russe by Jules LegrasAuthor: Legras, Jules, 1866-1939,Language: French, Class: DK: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Russia, Former Soviet Republics, Poland, Release Date: Feb 15, 2018

Editor's review

Au pays russe is a French-language work by the French author Jules Legras, classified in the public-domain catalogue under the history of Russia and Eastern Europe. The title translates literally as "In the Russian Land"; judging by the classification and title, the content relates to the author's observations and accounts of places in Russia, and it can serve as a text for understanding how the French viewed Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its value lies not in offering today's travel-guide information but in presenting observations and judgments from a particular era and perspective, through which readers can sense how European intellectuals of the time imagined and understood Russia. The book is written in French, with language bearing the marks of its time, and is suited to readers with some French reading ability who are interested in Russian history and cross-cultural observation. Read it with a critical eye, taking the author's personal perspective and the limitations of the era into account, rather than citing it directly as objective historical fact.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with some French reading ability interested in Russian history
Scholars studying modern French views of Russia and travel writing
Readers who enjoy late nineteenth-century European accounts of travels and observations

Not a good fit for

Readers with no French who want a Chinese-language introduction to Russian history
Travellers seeking practical information for contemporary travel in Russia
Readers expecting a systematic general-history framework and detailed factual verification

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and preface first to understand the author's itinerary and purpose, then proceed to the main text.
Keep a map of Russia at hand for reference to locate the places mentioned.
Note the author's judgments and tone as you read, and pay attention to the era's imprint on his perspective.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a general history of Russia?

No. In the public-domain catalogue it is classified under the history of Russia and Eastern Europe, but judging by the title and format it is closer to the author's account of what he saw in Russia than to a systematic general history; readers should not expect the framework and completeness of a general history.

Can I read this book without knowing French?

The book is originally in French, and it is difficult to read directly without French. If you only want to learn about the related content, you can look for Chinese or English research materials as a substitute, or use translation tools to help grasp the general meaning.

Can the accounts in the book be cited directly as historical fact?

Caution is advisable. Such travel accounts carry the author's personal perspective and the limitations of the era; they are suitable as material for observing modern French views of Russia, but specific historical facts should be cross-checked against other sources when cited.

Comments

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About the author

Legras, Jules, 1866-1939 Author

Jules Legras (1866–1939) was a French author about whom little is publicly documented; only one work by him, Au pays russe, is known to survive. Judging from its title, the book takes Russia as its subject and belongs to the genre of travel writing or documentary sketches, recording the author's observations of a foreign land and its daily life. Works of this kind tend to focus on journeys, social customs and personal impressions rather than systematic research or theoretical argument. On the available evidence, Legras's writing is connected with Russian themes, and his book offers later readers a first-hand reference for understanding how a French observer of his time saw Russia. Since reliable information on his life, education and career is lacking, this note makes no inferences and confines itself to the subject and character of his surviving work.