The House in the Garden: The Bakunin Family and the Romance of Russian Idealism
"In this lucid study, John Randolph brings together the realms of cultural, social, and intellectual history to provide a fascinating new perspective on the Russian Idealist circle of Mikhail Bakunin and Nikolai Stankevich. . . . It will be of interest to a wide audience of historians, literary scholars, and non-specialists not merely because of its fascinating subject matter and elegant readability but also because of the myriad ways in which it shakes up and challenges many of the old cultural clichés about the roots of the Russian revolutionary intelligentsia."—Kate Holland, Slavic and East European Journal"In The House in the Garden, John Randolph shows that intellectual history and biography are completely interwoven. In a straightforward, graceful, unpretentious style, Randolph argues that intellectual life in early nineteenth-century Russia entrenched itself in the home, which was the one venue that could more or less be placed under the sway of the intellect. The achievement of enlightened domesticity was the overriding preoccupation of the Bakunin family—at least for a while. Like other intellectual Europeans, they sought to combine brain, heart, and history as an effective response to the widely perceived crisis of reason."—Stephen Lovell, King's College London, author of Summerfolk: A History of the Dacha, 1710–2000"The House in the Garden is an important and engaging book about one of the most famous families in Russian history—the Bakunins—and of their estate, Priamukhino. The estate was both stage and testing ground for various notions of how private life might become the generative source of public virtues. One of Randolph's achievements is to suggest that Priamukhino's inhabitants were not so much alienated from the larger worlds of the Russian capitals as they were inspired by rhetorics of service and duty which they undertook to live out, in ways that ultimately took them beyond the intentions of the state, and into conflict with each other and with themselves. This book is a wonderful contribution to the history of women in Russia—attending to the roles of several generations of Bakunin women in forging the particular ethos of their estate, and using women's correspondence to argue for their active participation in dramas of duty, sacrifice, and the passionate longings of the heart. We are reminded that intellectual history 'happens' not only between the pages of books but also in the dramatic interstices of drawing rooms, betrothals, and intimate conversation."—Jane Costlow, Bates College"The House in the Garden is an elegant and highly significant contribution to the history of private life in Imperial Russia. Strongly recommended."—Abbott Gleason, Brown University"Revitalizing the grand old tradition of nineteenth-century Russian intellectual history in this engaging book, John Randolph uncovers the social and cultural foundations of Russian Idealism, a key to the Russian revolutionary spirit that would have an indelible impact on twentieth-century Russian history."—Barbara Walker, author of Maximilian Voloshin and the Russian Literary Circle: Culture and Survival in Revolutionary Times