Ex Libris Kirkland

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Editor John MacKay
Translator John MacKay
First Written 1881
Genre History
Origin Russia
Publisher University of Wisconsin Press
My Copy library paperback
First Read January 02, 2018

Four Russian Serf Narratives



The highlight was The Story of My Life and Wanderings: The Tale of the Former Serf Peasant Nikolai Shipov, 1802-62, a shaggy dog story of a fairly well-off serf who frequently tries to get free. This culminates when he finds an obscure law granting manumission to a serf and his family IF he was captured by mountain bandits - cossacks, chechens, etc - and then escapes. Shipov promptly gets himself posted to border areas and then wanders around at night with money in his pockets. He does in fact get kidnapped, charms his way to a mostly-tolerable existance as a hostage, and then does, actually escape.

This part was so fun I read most of it out loud to Trudy, who seemed to enjoy the absurdity of it.

Noted on January 13, 2018


Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - .
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