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A review by christinecc
After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War by Helen Rappaport
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Helen Rappaport's "After the Romanovs" zooms in on what became of the Russian nobility & intelligentsia that fled the Russian Revolution to be together in Paris. (Sorry, I couldn't resist making an Anastasia reference.)
Despite its title, the book covers a broader time period than expected. Rappaport, apparently mindful of giving her readers as much context as possible to welcome both new and experienced Russian history enthusiasts, starts her account not "after" the Romanovs but smack-dab in the middle of the Belle Epoque. (Early enough to see references to, say, the famous can-can dancer La Goulue.) We see the party times of the unimaginably wealthy Russians treating Paris, Biarritz, and the Côte d'Azur like their private playground and leaving their indelible mark on their favorite spots. Through amusing and sensational anecdotes and memoirs, Rappaport recreates a colorful and decidedly champagne-drenched view of this period during which the richest Russians spoke more French than Russian.
The rest of the book covers the unsettling contrast and chaos caused by these same Russians' flight during the Revolution.
I particularly appreciated how Rappaport preserved the weird tension of the period. Were people who had stayed trapped in Russia still alive? What money had such-and-such duke saved from his fortune? Did so-and-so have to sell her diamonds and take a job? And when would those who seemed to have retained some money run out? What would they do to maintain their lifestyle and accept that things could never, ever be what they once were? (I'm thinking, for example, of Prince Felix Yusupov who, having once helped to assassinate Rasputin, went on to live in Parisian exile and started the "IRFE" label with his wife Irina, combining their first names like an early 20th century Bragelina or Bennifer) Not to mention the many creatives like Nijinsky, Chagall, Stravinsky, Bakst, and Diaghilev, who forever shaped the distinctly Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau-esque view of Russian culture outside the new Soviet Union.
Something that Rappaport threads through the entire book is the increasingly blurred line between these displaced Russians' pre- and post-Revolution identities, not so much on an individual as a generational and hierarchical level. By the end, it's not clear where their Russian-ness ends (if at all) and their French-ness begins. The experience painted here is different from Russians who lived under Soviet rule before leaving their homes, just as it's nothing like the experience of those who chose a home other than Paris. What an interesting world that Rappaport has bottled for readers.
Recommended if for anyone who likes history, the Romanovs (and by extension their entourage), and the artistic scene of the Parisian Belle Epoque.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Despite its title, the book covers a broader time period than expected. Rappaport, apparently mindful of giving her readers as much context as possible to welcome both new and experienced Russian history enthusiasts, starts her account not "after" the Romanovs but smack-dab in the middle of the Belle Epoque. (Early enough to see references to, say, the famous can-can dancer La Goulue.) We see the party times of the unimaginably wealthy Russians treating Paris, Biarritz, and the Côte d'Azur like their private playground and leaving their indelible mark on their favorite spots. Through amusing and sensational anecdotes and memoirs, Rappaport recreates a colorful and decidedly champagne-drenched view of this period during which the richest Russians spoke more French than Russian.
The rest of the book covers the unsettling contrast and chaos caused by these same Russians' flight during the Revolution.
I particularly appreciated how Rappaport preserved the weird tension of the period. Were people who had stayed trapped in Russia still alive? What money had such-and-such duke saved from his fortune? Did so-and-so have to sell her diamonds and take a job? And when would those who seemed to have retained some money run out? What would they do to maintain their lifestyle and accept that things could never, ever be what they once were? (I'm thinking, for example, of Prince Felix Yusupov who, having once helped to assassinate Rasputin, went on to live in Parisian exile and started the "IRFE" label with his wife Irina, combining their first names like an early 20th century Bragelina or Bennifer) Not to mention the many creatives like Nijinsky, Chagall, Stravinsky, Bakst, and Diaghilev, who forever shaped the distinctly Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau-esque view of Russian culture outside the new Soviet Union.
Something that Rappaport threads through the entire book is the increasingly blurred line between these displaced Russians' pre- and post-Revolution identities, not so much on an individual as a generational and hierarchical level. By the end, it's not clear where their Russian-ness ends (if at all) and their French-ness begins. The experience painted here is different from Russians who lived under Soviet rule before leaving their homes, just as it's nothing like the experience of those who chose a home other than Paris. What an interesting world that Rappaport has bottled for readers.
Recommended if for anyone who likes history, the Romanovs (and by extension their entourage), and the artistic scene of the Parisian Belle Epoque.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.