Ocherki narodnoi estetiki [Notes on Folk Aesthetic]

The book publishes one of the most significant works of the outstanding Russian writer and thinker Vasily Ivanovich Belov. Sketches of folk aesthetics, revealing the spiritual world of the peasant. The Russian civilization of the peasant community, family, economy, labor and leisure, crafts and arts, customs and language appears in an ideally harmonious state, in which its history remembers and in what its writer sees. Lad is generated by the correct rhythm of the whole cycle of mortal life. The author with great tact is able to combine ethnographic accuracy with moral truth. His very speech is where the picture is, where it is sincere, where it is softly ironic, but always strong, harmonious, distinct in concepts and assessments, the folk word is always appropriate in it, which gives the book exceptional historical and artistic value.