Россия в 1839 году

The book "Russia in 1839" by Marquis Astolfe de Custine is one of those works that even those who have never read them have heard of. Ever since this book was published in Paris in May 1843, it has been accompanied by scandalous fame. Banned by Russian censorship shortly after its release, Custine's book was never fully translated into Russian until 1996. Meanwhile, the French marquis guessed many of the unchanging features of Russian life. Sometimes his remarks are offensive, sometimes, on the contrary, flattering. Most precisely, this is evidenced by the conclusion made by one of the first Russian readers of Kyustin, the Moscow postal director A. Ya. Bulgakov: “And the devil knows what his true conclusion is, we are the first people in the world, we are the most vile!”. Modern readers have the opportunity to see for themselves that Custine is an intelligent and insightful, albeit a biased observer, and most importantly, an excellent stylist, a master of refined aphorism. In this edition, the complete 1996 translation is printed with some corrections; comments have been significantly revised and supplemented.