This book presents in a broad panorama the role technology played in creating a cosmopolitan European culture. It’s a point I first came across in an earlier book, Hugh MacDonald’s 1853 in Music, 2012. The two books complement each other. MacDonald’s focus is narrow: one technology (rail travel), one of the arts, and one year.
Figes, by contrast, covers the century from Napoleon’s downfall to World War I’s outbreak. He treats, in addition to music, visual arts, books and reading, and theatre. While the railroad is the first technology he focuses on, he also deals with other developments, such as lithographic reproduction. Figes also makes fascinating connections between art forms, such as the popularity of photography leading to a more visual style of fiction.
The role of wealth is a crucial factor: from the capital that financed the rail lines, opera houses, and museums to the growing wealth of the middle class (particularly in Britain — renowned more for its consumption of culture than its creation) that provided expanded audiences. Unfortunately, Figes pays little attention to the poverty and exploitation of the working classes that allowed the donor elite to accumulate wealth.
I learned many things in the book, mainly about the origins of cultural activities I’ve simply accepted as standard parts of life.
The cast of characters is vast. Figes wisely focuses on a triad, Louis and Pauline Viardot and their devoted friend Ivan Turgenev. Nevertheless, interweaving their storylines with all the other narrative paths the author pursued led to an irritating amount of repetition. For example, how often does the reader need to be reminded that Turgenev traveled constantly or that Pauline Viardot had to tour because the doors to Paris opera houses remained closed to her? And while one can understand the occasional mistake in a book with so much detail, I still was nettled that the Swiss author Gottfried Keller was twice referred to as German.
At the end of the book, in the Acknowledgements, Figes reveals that he and his sister reclaimed their German nationality following the Brexit decision. It is a poignant conclusion to the book’s ode to international exchange. Moreover, it corresponds to my nostalgia for how the cosmopolitan nineteenth century enriched European culture, which was why I chose to read this book. ( )

What I mostly picked this book up for related to what the author had to say about cosmopolitanism. What I found the most interesting was what Figes had to say about culture as business. As for the main historical characters here, Ivan Turgenev on one hand, and Pauline & Louis Viardot on the other, I'm going to admit that Pauline, the singer and musician, most captured my imagination, as opposed to Turgenev the literary figure and Louis the impresario and journalist. I found her embodiment of talent and hard-headed business sense to be particularly modern. ( )

The Europeans are diminished today because of their so-called Eurocentric orientation. However, the author shows us the significance of European culture by the examination of several key lives. Europe is a worldwide significance and it is not only because of an interest in, but the profound influence of, Europe that we are interested at all.