How Russia Learned to Write

Literature and the Imperial Table of Ranks

AvIrina Reyfman

Häftad, Engelska, 2021

Del i serien Publications of the Wisconsin Center for Pushkin Studies

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Beskrivning

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.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2021-01-30
Mått:152 x 229 x 20 mm
Vikt:355 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Publications of the Wisconsin Center for Pushkin Studies
Antal sidor:256
Förlag:University of Wisconsin Press
ISBN:9780299308346

Utforska kategorier

Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur
Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur

Mer om författaren

Irina Reyfman is a professor of Russian literature at Columbia University. She is the author and editor of several books, including Ritualized Violence Russian Style: The Duel in Russian Culture and Rank and Style: Russians in State Service, Life, and Literature.

Recensioner i media

Compelling, clever, and persuasive. Examining many Russian writers' self-fashioning as members of the nobility and their careers in public service, Reyfman admirably shows that the understanding of rank should inflect all our arguments and histories of the writing profession in Russia." - Luba Golburt, University of California, Berkeley"Indispensable reading for all who study Russian literature of the Imperial period. Reyfman adds nuance and necessary reevaluation to our understanding of how literary careers and literary biography evolved in Russia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." - Andrew Kahn, University of Oxford"Reyfman's prose is clear and readable throughout, and How Russia Learned to Write adds an intriguing new reading on canonical texts of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is one of those rare books you never knew you needed, but answers questions you have always had." - Slavic Review "Can be read profitably by a range of readers, from undergraduates to specialists. . . . Reyfman's informed analysis forces us to rethink received ideas." - Slavic and East European Journal

Innehållsförteckning

AcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration and TranslationIntroduction: Russian Writers and State Service, 1750s-1850s1 To Serve or to Write? Noble Writers in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries2 Pushkin as Bureaucrat, Courtier, and Writer3 Hierarchy of Ranks according to Gogol4 Poets in the Military: Denis Davydov, Aleksandr Polezhaev, and Mikhail Lermontov5 Service Ranks in Dostoevsky's Life and FictionConclusion: Beyond RankAppendix: The Table of RanksNotesIndex

Luba Golburt

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