Lower-Class Reading in Late Imperial Russia

Badcock, Sarah; Cowan, Felix

Abstract

This article demonstrates widespread engagement of lower-class people with the written word in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russian Empire, in rural and urban locales, in homes, workplaces, and social spaces. We explore how lower-class people read: the daily habits, personal relationships, and social spaces that shaped engagement with texts, and especially collective reading, a widespread phenomenon that extended the reach of the written word to less- or non-literate audiences. Many lower-class Russians experienced reading as a collective, public, aural activity, not a solitary, private, internal one. Reading was entwined with the rhythms of everyday social life and provoked critical thought and active engagement within countless lower-class reading groups, as evidenced by collective letter-writing and observations of post-reading discussions. This article therefore contributes to scholarship exploring lower-class Russians’ conscious and meaningful engagement with the textual world, and by association with late imperial Russia’s transforming social and political spheres.

Citation

Badcock, S., & Cowan, F. (2023). Lower-Class Reading in Late Imperial Russia. Russian Review, 82(4), 649-667. https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12497

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 26, 2023
• Online Publication Date: May 12, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-10
• Deposit Date: Jan 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 12, 2023
• Journal: Russian Review
• Print ISSN: 0036-0341
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9434
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 82
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 649-667
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12497
• Keywords: Russia; literacy; nineteenth century
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/16503448
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/russ.12497