Smelyansky Medievalisms and Russia

The Contest for Imaginary Pasts
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-80270-240-8
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 136 Seiten

This new monograph is devoted to a detailed exploration of the ways in which the medieval past has been wielded to propagandic effect in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia. From politicians’ speeches to popular culture, from Orthodox Christianity to neo-paganism, the medieval Russian past remains crucial in constructing national identity, mobilizing society during times of crisis, and providing alternative models of communal belonging. Frequent appeals to a medieval Slavic past, its heroes and myths, have provided—and continue to provide—a particularly powerful tool for animating imperialist and populist sentiments. This study explores persuasive—and pervasive—recourse to tropes concerned with the Middle Ages in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia, seeking to explain why an often romanticized medieval past remains potent in Russian politics, society, and culture today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smelyansky, Eugene

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Mittelalterliche, neuzeitliche Archäologie (Europa)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction Chapter One: A Contested Inheritance: Medieval Rus and Russia’s Origin Myths Chapter Two: Alexander Nevsky: The Once and Future Prince Chapter Three: Byzantine Dreams: Russia as the “Third Rome” Chapter Four: Medievalism as Allegory: The Middle Ages in Unofficial Culture Conclusion Select Bibliography Index

Über Autor(innen)

Smelyansky Eugene :

Eugene Smelyansky is a Teaching Assistant Professor of History at Washington State University, and has written on Russian medievalisms for The Public Medievalist.