Creating the Empress
Politics and Poetry in the Age of Catherine II
Published on 14. June 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-1-61811-805-9 (ISBN)
Description
In Creating the Empress, Vera Proskurina examines the interaction between power and poetry in creating the imperial image of Catherine the Great, providing a detailed analysis of a wide range of Russian literary works from this period, particularly the main Classical myths associated with Catherine (Amazon, Astraea, Pallas Athena, Felicitas, Fortune, etc.), as well as how these Classical subjects affirmed imperial ideology and the monarch's power. Each chapter of the book revolves around the major events of Catherine's reign (and some major literary works) that give a broad framework to discuss the evolution of important recurring motifs and images.
Reviews / Votes
"The volume includes careful analyses of contemporary sources as well as of the poetry, prose, and journalism of the 18th century. Highly recommended."- A. J. DeBlasio, Dickinson College, in CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July 2011
"The strength of Proskurina's work lies in its detailed analysis of a wide range of Russian literary works from this period, particularly in highlighting the frequent use of Classical subjects or genres by authors to discuss the symbolic or analogous content of their writings. Similarly, she draws on an impressive range of English and Russian language scholarship to emphasize the need to view these Classical themes and motifs in the context of wider European symbolic traditions, as well as the immediate historical context of Catherine II's reign."
- Paul Keenan, Department of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science, in Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, Vol 10 (2009)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Brighton
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
477 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61811-805-9 (9781618118059)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Vera J. Proskurina (Ph.D., Moscow State University) is a lecturer in Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures department at Emory University. She is the author of two books and sixty articles on Russian literature and the intellectual history of Russia. Her first book, Mikhail Gershenzon: his Life and Myth (1998) was devoted to the Jewish Russian writer and thinker of the first decades of the 20th century. Her second book, Myths of Empire: Politics and Literature in the Time of Catherine II, first appeared in Moscow in 2006.