Contested Russian Tourism: Cosmopolitanism, Nation, and Empire in the Nineteenth Century by Susan Layton (review)

Abstract

Susan Layton is an established author in the field of Russian studies. Her research deals with nineteenthcentury Russian literature, cultural dimensions of empire-building, tourism, and travel writing. The book under review sums up the topics and ideas previously presented in a series of articles and her 1994 book, Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy, still considered a standard monograph on the topic.1 The experience of traveling to nearby cities, remote parts of the country, and cultural centers abroad is reflected in many literary texts. The book explores the connection between travel narratives and imperial discourse in Russian literature while offering a gallery of portraits of prominent writers from Karamzin