Panel 1: Pushkin and the Russian Cultural Imagination
Dynamic conflict in Alexander Pushkin’s Boris Godunov and The Bronze Horseman
Nigel Foxcroft, University of Brighton
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) deals with crucial turning-points in the rise of Russia in Boris Godunov (1825) and The Bronze Horseman (1833). In the former he is influenced not only by Shakespearian drama, but also by N. M. Karamzin’s History of the Russian State (1816-26). Without simply recreating Russia’s past, he challenges the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement, identifying rational and irrational forces at work and linking the present with the past through the use of historicisms. In The Bronze Horseman he combines two different interpretations of the founding of St Petersburg in 1703, launching a dialogue with the eighteenth-century odic tradition from which he liberates modern Russian literature. As in Boris Godunov, a measured blend of church slavonicisms and colloquialisms provides a parallel linguistic contrast, mirroring socio-political and moral themes.
Dynamic conflict between the rational and the irrational is considered inherent in historical events and the forces of nature. In The Bronze Horseman it is symbolized by a clash between the hard elements of St Petersburg and the soft ones of the River Neva. The guilt-ridden Boris Godunov and the visionary Peter the Great, a man of Napoleonic volition, are unable to impose reason on a world of disorder without unleashing the unpredictable, irrational, elemental forces which they seek to quell. In the ensuing struggle for survival either one loses one’s way and goes mad, like Evgeny in The Bronze Horseman, or one conquers, like the paranoid Boris Godunov, the imaginative Peter the Great, and, indeed, the resourceful Pushkin himself.
The Figure of the Jesuit in Russian Literature of the Nineteenth Century
Elizabeth Harrison, UCL-SSEES
My paper will examine figure of the Jesuit in nineteenth-century literature, a theme which evolves from my thesis on the image of Catholicism. The nineteenth century is of special interest in conjunction with the study of Russian attitudes to religion since it was a crucial time in the formation of Russian national identity. My paper will begin by outlining who the Jesuits are and what role they play in world history. Then I will briefly summarise the influence of the Jesuits on Russian history and how this may have affected how they were viewed in literature. I will then use some examples from some well-known texts and analyse how the Jesuit appears as a character in Russian plays and novels of this period. Starting with Pushkin’s drama about the Time of Troubles Boris Godunov and comparing this with Khomiakov’s drama, Dmitriii Samozvanets, I will outline how the Jesuit appears as Machiavellian schemer. Next I will discuss the 1840s and 1850s and the Jesuit polemics with Slavophile thinkers. Lastly, I will look at some examples from Dostoevskii’s Idiot and Tolstoi’s Voina i Mir and discuss the portrayal of Jesuits as eloquent speakers who were attempting to convert Russians. I will argue that although Jesuits are often neglected as minor characters in Russian literature, examining this theme can inform us about how Russian national identity was being formulated, and Russian writer’s response to how they felt Russian religious identity was being challenged.
The Unusual Inter-Relationship Between Russian Literature and Visual Arts in the 1870s-1880s: Aleksandr Opekushin as a Contributor to the Pushkin Myth
Alexandra Smith, University of Edinburgh
The present paper will discuss Opekushin’s Pushkin monuments erected in Moscow and in Kishinev in 1880 and in 1885 respectively in the light of the debates about the Pushkin monument found in the media, including the journal ‘Grazhdanin’ edited by F.M. Dostoevsky. It will argue that Opekushin was influenced both by literary and non-literary sources, including various biographical materials compiled by Bartenev and Annenkov. The criticism of Antokolsky’s monument in favour of Opekushin’s monument voiced by many prominent art critics and writers stems from the fact that Pushkin became seen in the late 1870s as an important educator and spiritual teacher who advocated the importance of literature in the construction of the modern nation. As F.I. Buslaev’s Introduction to the 1880 edited volume Venok Pushkinu demonstrates, Pushkin’s vision of the missionary role of literature in Russian modernisation was of importance to the writers of the 1870s-80s devoted to the expansion of the public sphere. The paper will argue that Opekushin’s monument was modeled largely on the works of Russian sculptor of Italian origin I.P.Vitali, including his bust of Pushkin (that incorporated many features of Pushkin’s death mask) and his depiction of Jesus Christ in the composition ‘Ecce Homo’ located outside the St Isaac’s cathedral in St Petersburg. Opekushin’s image of Pushkin as a thinker and martyr accords well with Dostoevsky’s image of Pushkin (as found in his 1880 Pushkin Speech) and his interpretation of Tatiana Larina as an ideal Russian reader capable of choosing from literary texts available to her those models for imitation that could enhance Russian spiritual life.
Nigel Foxcroft, University of Brighton
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) deals with crucial turning-points in the rise of Russia in Boris Godunov (1825) and The Bronze Horseman (1833). In the former he is influenced not only by Shakespearian drama, but also by N. M. Karamzin’s History of the Russian State (1816-26). Without simply recreating Russia’s past, he challenges the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement, identifying rational and irrational forces at work and linking the present with the past through the use of historicisms. In The Bronze Horseman he combines two different interpretations of the founding of St Petersburg in 1703, launching a dialogue with the eighteenth-century odic tradition from which he liberates modern Russian literature. As in Boris Godunov, a measured blend of church slavonicisms and colloquialisms provides a parallel linguistic contrast, mirroring socio-political and moral themes.
Dynamic conflict between the rational and the irrational is considered inherent in historical events and the forces of nature. In The Bronze Horseman it is symbolized by a clash between the hard elements of St Petersburg and the soft ones of the River Neva. The guilt-ridden Boris Godunov and the visionary Peter the Great, a man of Napoleonic volition, are unable to impose reason on a world of disorder without unleashing the unpredictable, irrational, elemental forces which they seek to quell. In the ensuing struggle for survival either one loses one’s way and goes mad, like Evgeny in The Bronze Horseman, or one conquers, like the paranoid Boris Godunov, the imaginative Peter the Great, and, indeed, the resourceful Pushkin himself.
The Figure of the Jesuit in Russian Literature of the Nineteenth Century
Elizabeth Harrison, UCL-SSEES
My paper will examine figure of the Jesuit in nineteenth-century literature, a theme which evolves from my thesis on the image of Catholicism. The nineteenth century is of special interest in conjunction with the study of Russian attitudes to religion since it was a crucial time in the formation of Russian national identity. My paper will begin by outlining who the Jesuits are and what role they play in world history. Then I will briefly summarise the influence of the Jesuits on Russian history and how this may have affected how they were viewed in literature. I will then use some examples from some well-known texts and analyse how the Jesuit appears as a character in Russian plays and novels of this period. Starting with Pushkin’s drama about the Time of Troubles Boris Godunov and comparing this with Khomiakov’s drama, Dmitriii Samozvanets, I will outline how the Jesuit appears as Machiavellian schemer. Next I will discuss the 1840s and 1850s and the Jesuit polemics with Slavophile thinkers. Lastly, I will look at some examples from Dostoevskii’s Idiot and Tolstoi’s Voina i Mir and discuss the portrayal of Jesuits as eloquent speakers who were attempting to convert Russians. I will argue that although Jesuits are often neglected as minor characters in Russian literature, examining this theme can inform us about how Russian national identity was being formulated, and Russian writer’s response to how they felt Russian religious identity was being challenged.
The Unusual Inter-Relationship Between Russian Literature and Visual Arts in the 1870s-1880s: Aleksandr Opekushin as a Contributor to the Pushkin Myth
Alexandra Smith, University of Edinburgh
The present paper will discuss Opekushin’s Pushkin monuments erected in Moscow and in Kishinev in 1880 and in 1885 respectively in the light of the debates about the Pushkin monument found in the media, including the journal ‘Grazhdanin’ edited by F.M. Dostoevsky. It will argue that Opekushin was influenced both by literary and non-literary sources, including various biographical materials compiled by Bartenev and Annenkov. The criticism of Antokolsky’s monument in favour of Opekushin’s monument voiced by many prominent art critics and writers stems from the fact that Pushkin became seen in the late 1870s as an important educator and spiritual teacher who advocated the importance of literature in the construction of the modern nation. As F.I. Buslaev’s Introduction to the 1880 edited volume Venok Pushkinu demonstrates, Pushkin’s vision of the missionary role of literature in Russian modernisation was of importance to the writers of the 1870s-80s devoted to the expansion of the public sphere. The paper will argue that Opekushin’s monument was modeled largely on the works of Russian sculptor of Italian origin I.P.Vitali, including his bust of Pushkin (that incorporated many features of Pushkin’s death mask) and his depiction of Jesus Christ in the composition ‘Ecce Homo’ located outside the St Isaac’s cathedral in St Petersburg. Opekushin’s image of Pushkin as a thinker and martyr accords well with Dostoevsky’s image of Pushkin (as found in his 1880 Pushkin Speech) and his interpretation of Tatiana Larina as an ideal Russian reader capable of choosing from literary texts available to her those models for imitation that could enhance Russian spiritual life.