Down the Volga

The Volga — on one side, a metaphor for concentrated "Russian life," on the other, a two-week hedonistic voyage — has attracted the attention of foreigners for several centuries, who wish to know Russia but do not want to test... themselves by traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The collection "Down the Volga" includes three reports by foreign specialists who visited the Volga during the Soviet years. Together, they represent not only an interesting view of the USSR from within the "showcase of the great experiment," but also capture the momentary state of cities descending along the Volga to Southern Russia, noting their local features arising at the intersection of the river's vertical and the horizontal contexts of the country.