Napoleon in the Russian Imaginary

Gary Rosenshield

doi:10.5771/9781666925234

Summary

Napoleon today is still a figure who fascinates both his admirers and detractors because of his seminal role in European history at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, straddling the French Revolution and the enormous empire that he fashioned through military conquest. Napoleon in the Russian Imaginary focuses on the response of Russia's greatest writers—poets, novelists, critics, and historians—to the idea of "Great Man" as an agent of transformational change as it manifests itself in the person and career of Napoleon. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and his subsequent exile to St. Helena, in much of Europe a re-evaluation of Napoleon's person, stature, and historical significance occurred, as thinkers and writers witnessed the gradual reestablishment of repressive regimes throughout Europe. This re-evaluation in Russia would have to wait until Napoleon's death in 1821, but when it came to pass, it continued to occupy the imagination of Russia's greatest writers for over 130 years. Although Napoleon's invasion of Russia and subsequent defeat had a profound effect on Russian culture and Russian history, for Russian writers what was most important was the universal significance of Napoleon’s desire for world conquest and the idea of unbridled ambition which he embodied. Russian writers saw this, for good or ill, as potentially determining the spiritual and moral fate of future generations. What is particularly fascinating is their attempt to confront each other about this idea in a creative dialogue, with each succeeding writer addressing himself and responding to his predecessor and predecessors.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2023
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-2522-7
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-2523-4
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 236
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
1. Notes No access
1. “Recollections in Tsarskoe Selo”: The Original Version No access
2. “Recollections in Tsarskoe Selo”: The First Revised Version No access
3. “Napoleon on Elba” No access
4. Two Commissions: “On His Majesty’s Return” and “Prince of Orange” No access
5. “Freedom” (1817) and “Recollections in Tsarskoe Selo” (1819) No access
6. Notes No access
1. “Napoleon” (1821) No access
2. “Why Were You Sent and Who Sent You” (Zachem Ty Soslan Byl I Kto Tebia Poslal, 1824) No access
3. “A Motionless Guard Dozed on the Tsar’s Threshold” (Nedvizhnyj Strazh Dremal Na Tsarstvennom Poroge, 1824) No access
4. “To the Sea” (K Moriu, 1824) No access
5. Napoleon Imposters and the Napoleonic Idea No access
6. “The Hero” (Geroi, 1830) No access
7. Notes No access
1. Views of Napoleon No access
2. Pierre: Napoleon and Ideas No access
3. Andrei: Napoleon and Glory (Kleos) No access
4. Conclusions: Pierre and Andrei, 1812–1820 No access
5. Notes No access
1. 1. 1. Chance No access
    2. Necessity No access
    3. Command No access
  2. 1. Behavior, Mannerisms, and Physical Traits No access
    2. Napoleon as Dupe No access
    3. Napoleon as Comic Actor No access
    4. Napoleon: Stupidity, Incompetence, and Self-Awareness No access
2. 1. 1. Napoleon as Moral Monster No access
3. 1. 1. The Great Man, Freedom in History, and Moral Responsibility No access
4. Notes No access
1. 1. Historical Influence No access
  2. Hero Worship No access
  3. Great Men and Their Fields of Endeavor: Raskolnikov the Humanitarian No access
  4. Greatness and Morality: Raskolnikov as Absolute Egoist No access
2. 1. Peter, the Russian Great Man, the Idea, and Cultural-Historic Change No access
  2. Hero-Worship, Egoism, and the Annihilation of Personality No access
3. Notes No access
1. Destroying Tolstoy’s Napoleon No access
2. Deconstructing Dostoevsky’s Napoleon No access
3. Mythologizing Napoleon No access
4. Notes No access
1. The Political Context No access
2. Napoleon (1936): The Great Man No access
3. Napoleon (1936): Tyrant and Egoist No access
4. Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia: Napoleon Diminished No access
5. The Stalin Narrative: Napoleon Erased No access
6. Notes No access
1. Notes No access
Bibliography No access Pages 217 - 224
Index No access Pages 225 - 234
About the Author No access Pages 235 - 236