Conversations on Russian Culture: Life and Traditions of the Russian Nobility (Besedy o Russkoy Kulture)

Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman is a world-renowned scholar, philologist, and cultural studies expert, whose works have been translated into all major European languages. His creative legacy is extremely extensive, comprising approximately eight hundred scholarly and popular science articles and books. Like many outstanding scholars, Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman struggled to remain confined to a single discipline: his research focused not only on 18th- and 19th-century literature but also on the history of Russian social thought, art theory, and cultural studies. In the late 1980s, he lectured on the daily life and traditions of the Russian nobility on television; these programs attracted millions of viewers. The scholar based his lecture series on the book 'Conversations on Russian Culture.' It immerses the reader in the 18th and early 19th centuries, presented through the realities of everyday life: the table of ranks, home education, high-society balls, duels, card games, and more. Thanks to the diversity of documentary sources, the breadth of its generalizations, and the accessible presentation, this one of the most important studies on the history of Russian noble culture remains popular not only among specialists but also among the general readership.