{"id":5921,"date":"2018-12-22T09:41:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T08:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/?p=5921"},"modified":"2020-05-30T19:18:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T17:18:54","slug":"der-schwarze-handschuh-vladimir-odoevskij","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/2018\/12\/der-schwarze-handschuh-vladimir-odoevskij\/","title":{"rendered":"Der schwarze Handschuh \u2022 Vladimir Odoevskij"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

At the moment, I\u2019m still deep in my \u201cManesse Russian phase,\u201d immersing myself in the novels of the great Russian authors. I\u2019ve now reached the first half of the 19th century\u2014a period in which Russian prose truly began to flourish and lay the groundwork for novels like Anna Karenina<\/em>. It was a time when writers such as Pushkin, Turgenev, and Chekhov shaped modern Russian literature. Vladimir Odoevsky is one of the lesser-known figures of this era, which made me all the more curious about this book that Manesse Verlag added to its program a few years ago.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At first, I thought this was a novel, but to my surprise, it turned out to be a collection of stories. Clearly, I only skimmed the back cover\u2014classic me\u2014since blurbs for classics often contain unpleasant spoilers. Still, I love Manesse\u2019s editions of master novellas, so I was actually quite pleased to find a handful of shorter tales inside.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Overall, the reading experience was mixed. The first and title story, The Black Glove<\/em>, wasn\u2019t bad, but it didn\u2019t really captivate me either. The plots of these short novellas are often well-crafted and pointed, but the conclusions weren\u2019t always impactful enough. The same goes for the four other stories. The Ghost<\/em> is a Gothic tale, though I found its twist rather weak. Consequences of a Satirical Article<\/em> pokes fun at the intellectual upper class. Tale of a Dead Body, Unknown to Whom It Belonged<\/em> paints a fine picture of a petty, corrupt provincial official but felt too bizarre in its central element. Similarly, The Sylphide<\/em>\u2014a strange story with supernatural elements\u2014could almost have come from E.T.A. Hoffmann, though it felt a bit too fanciful for my taste.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The last two and longest stories, however, I really enjoyed. They\u2019re titled Princess Mimi<\/em> and Princess Zizi<\/em>\u2014odd-sounding names at first, but both are fascinating, well-constructed social tales set in the upper aristocracy of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Each follows the fate of a princess and explores how society unfairly judges, how gossip and malice drive conversation in salons, and how compassion is lost in the process. I devoured both of these stories\u2014they\u2019re written in the tradition of the great social novels of the time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Vladimir Odoevsky (1803\u20131869) was born into high nobility and knew the intricacies of upper-class life intimately\u2014he belonged to that very world himself. His stories take aim at the aristocracy with sharp cynicism and moral critique, exposing its superficial, gossip-driven culture. In noble circles, French was almost exclusively spoken at the time\u2014so much so that many could barely speak Russian, which is rather absurd. Odoevsky condemns this tendency and repeatedly questions how much of the \u201cRussian spirit\u201d is lost when everyone favors a foreign tongue. Beyond that, his stories also dwell on common human flaws and the intellectuals who, smug in their elitism, mindlessly imitate French culture without reflection.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Odoevsky was highly educated\u2014a writer, composer, and well-connected member of Russia\u2019s early literary scene. He was acquainted with Gogol, Turgenev, Chekhov, as well as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. So he certainly kept good company, and his influence on these major figures shouldn\u2019t be underestimated.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Conclusion:<\/strong> I put this book down with mixed feelings. On one hand, the socially observant and psychologically nuanced stories Princess Mimi<\/em> and Princess Zizi<\/em> were excellent\u2014engaging, elegant, and insightful. The other stories, however, didn\u2019t resonate as much with me, and the prose didn\u2019t quite carry me into its rhythm. Still, the Manesse edition itself is\u2014as always\u2014wonderful, complete with all the features I\u2019ve come to love: the beautiful orange linen binding is especially striking. All in all, this is a book that entertained me but isn\u2019t one I\u2019d consider essential reading.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Book information:<\/strong> Der schwarze Handschuh<\/em> \u2022 Vladimir Odoevsky \u2022 Manesse Verlag \u2022 379 pages \u2022 ISBN 9783717522461<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the moment, I\u2019m still deep in my \u201cManesse Russian phase,\u201d immersing myself in the novels of the great Russian authors. I\u2019ve now reached the first half of the 19th century\u2014a period in which Russian prose truly began to flourish and lay the groundwork for novels like Anna Karenina. It was a time when writers … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Der schwarze Handschuh \u2022 Vladimir Odoevskij”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Der schwarze Handschuh \u2022 Vladimir Odoevskij - lesestunden","description":"Aktuell habe ich noch immer meinen Manesse-Russen-Lauf und gebe mich der Lekt\u00fcre der Romane der russischen Autoren hin. Prim\u00e4r bin ich nun in der ersten H\u00e4lfte"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,20],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-5921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classics","category-reviews","tag-vladimir-odoevskij"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/odojevskij_beitrag_2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}