
How Russia Learned to Write
Literature and the Imperial Table of Ranks
Irina Reyfman(Author)
University of Wisconsin Press
Published on 23. August 2016
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-299-30830-8 (ISBN)
Description
In the eighteenth century, as modern forms of literature began to emerge in Russia, most of the writers producing it were members of the nobility. But their literary pursuits competed with strictly enforced obligations to imperial state service. Unique to Russia was the Table of Ranks, introduced by Emperor Peter the Great in 1722. Noblesse oblige was not just a lofty principle; aristocrats were expected to serve in the military, civil service, or the court, and their status among peers depended on advancement in ranks.
Irina Reyfman illuminates the surprisingly diverse effects of the Table of Ranks on writers, their work, and literary culture in Russia. From Sumarokov and Derzhavin in the eighteenth century through Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and poets serving in the military in the nineteenth, state service affected the self-images of writers and the themes of their creative output. Reyfman also notes its effects on Russia's atypical course in the professionalization and social status of literary work.
Irina Reyfman illuminates the surprisingly diverse effects of the Table of Ranks on writers, their work, and literary culture in Russia. From Sumarokov and Derzhavin in the eighteenth century through Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and poets serving in the military in the nineteenth, state service affected the self-images of writers and the themes of their creative output. Reyfman also notes its effects on Russia's atypical course in the professionalization and social status of literary work.
Reviews / Votes
"Demonstrat[es] that much of what we know about Russian writers' relationships to state service is interpretation, and Reyfman provides thought-provoking alternative readings."-Eighteenth-Century FictionMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Wisconsin
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
508 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-299-30830-8 (9780299308308)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Irina Reyfman is a professor of Russian literature at Columbia University. She is the author and editor of several books, including Rank and Style: Russians in State Service, Life, and Literature and Ritualized Violence Russian Style.