Scenarios of power : myth and ceremony in Russian monarchy
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Scenarios of power : myth and ceremony in Russian monarchy
（Studies of the Harriman Institute）
Princeton University Press, c1995-c2000
- v. 1
- v. 2
- Other Title
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Myth and ceremony in Russian monarchy
Available at / 17 libraries
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Faculty of Letters Library, University of Tokyo西史
v. 13号館R:1471:14800677785,
v. 23号館R:1471:24816552121 -
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Note
v. 1. From Peter the Great to the death of Nicholas I
v. 2. From Alexander II to the abdication of Nicholas II
Bibliography: (v. 1) p. [419]-440, (v. 2) p. [529]-552
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
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v. 2 ISBN 9780691029474
Description
Richard Wortman continues his unrivaled inquiry into the lavish ceremonies and celebrations of the Russian imperial court, revealing the myths, symbols, and rituals that were central to monarchical rule. In this volume, he explores the presentations and representations of tsarist power under the last three emperors--Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II--who faced increasing social pressures from modernizing forces. Coronations, funerals, the blessing of the waters, parades as well as art, architecture, and the printed word all captured the mental worlds of these men and showed how they understood the empire they ruled. Wortman describes the evolution of their scenarios during their upbringing and the early years of their reign, making clear how these symbolic settings defined their policies and goals. The author finds that the last Russian tsars adapted the myth of the transcendent Western emperor to cope with the challenges of liberalism, nationalism, and democracy. They made use of historical celebrations, the press, art, literature, and films to disseminate their images as popular, national monarchs.
Alexander III and Nicholas II presented themselves increasingly as the embodiment of the Russian people, rather than the all-Russian emperor governing a multi-ethnic empire--an image perpetuated by Peter the Great. This new means of appeal, Wortman argues, by presenting the tsar as sole representative of the Russian people, enabled him to sustain his determination to counter the Duma and to restore his autocratic privileges.
Table of Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv ABBREVIATIONS xvii INTRODUCTION 3 PART ONE: ALEXANDER II AND THE SCENARIO OF LOVE 17 CHAPTER ONE The Emergence of the Scenario 19 CHAPTER TWO The Tsar-Emancipator 58 CHAPTER THREE The Loss of Conviction 92 CHAPTER FOUR The Crisis of Autocracy 129 PART TWO: ALEXANDER III AND THE INCEPTION OF A NATIONAL MYTH 159 CHAPTER FIVE The Fashioning of a Russian Tsar 161 CHAPTER SIX Accession and Coronation 196 CHAPTER SEVEN The Resurrection of Muscovy 235 CHAPTER EIGHT Petersburg and Moscow
- The Death of a Russian Tsar 271 PART THREE: NICHOLAS II AND THE SEARCH FOR A NATIONAL PERSONA 307 CHAPTER NINE Childhood and Marriage 309 CHAPTER TEN Accession and Coronation 340 CHAPTER ELEVEN Demonstrations of Godliness 365 CHAPTER TWELVE The 1905 Revolution and the Jubilee Celebrations 392 CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Tercentenary Celebrations of 1913 439 CHAPTER FOURTEEN Publicizing the Tsar 481 CHAPTER FIFTEEN Epilogue: The Tsar, the Duma, and the Army 503 CONCLUSION 514 BIBLIOGRAPHY 529 INDEX 553
- Volume
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v. 1 ISBN 9780691034843
Description
The Russian imperial court, with its extravagant ceremonies and celebrations, was perhaps the most impressive theater in the world. The show, however, was no mere diversion, as Richard Wortman demonstrates in this first scholarly study of the principal myths, symbols, and rituals of Russian monarchy. Focusing on the period from the reign of Peter the Great to the death of Nicholas I, Wortman shows how the presentations and representations of the Russian ruler played a central role in the exercise of monarchical power. These presentations--from ceremonies and staged events to architectural and literary monuments--sustained an image of a supreme and transcendent ruler that helps us to understand the character and persistence of absolute monarchy in Russia.
Wortman draws on the insights of social science and literary scholarship to reveal the underlying myth of foreign conquest that animated the ceremonies of the Russian court. Marshaling a variety of sources, among them poetry, engravings, and newspaper accounts, he traces the evolution of this myth through the scenarios that expressed it in the cultural idiom of each reign. He shows us how monarchical presentations served to consolidate the loyalty of the ruling elite and to establish the distance of the elite from the rest of the population.
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