A Brief Introduction to the Golden Era of the Nineteenth Century During the presentation answer the following questions What major events affected Russian culture in the 1800s How did the different Tsars affect Russia ID: 273678
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Slide1
Russian Literature
A Brief Introduction to the Golden Era of the Nineteenth CenturySlide2
During the presentation, answer the following questions.
What major events affected Russian culture in the 1800s? How did the different Tsars affect Russia?Slide3
What was it like for writers and other artists in the nineteenth century?Slide4
Why
did the nobles fall?Slide5
For each given author, be able to explain why they were important to Russian Literature. Slide6
What were major topics, themes, and styles of Russian literature?Slide7
Russia to 1800Slide8
Russia 1900Slide9
Russia TodaySlide10
Romanov History
1612 – Romanov family ascends to the throne;
gave nobles the power to control their peasants; this is known as
SERFDOM
family rules for over 300 years (until 1917)
1689 - Peter the Great assumed control and envisions Russia as a world power
Peter visits the west (London, Paris, etc.) & brings back modern traditions.
St. Petersburg is founded (new capital) and ties with Europe increase
schools for navigation, geography, math, politics and astronomy
new organization, strategy & technology for the navy, army
1st Russian news paper, hospital, museum
ended isolation Slide11
Romanov Family History
Romanov monarchs are historically very right wing (conservative or reactionary)
Catherine the Great further expands Russian territory
Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
Many of the ’stans (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, etc.)
1812 - Alexander I defeats Napoleon with scorched earth (and Jack Frost
)Slide12
Napolean in RussiaSlide13Slide14
Changes in Russia
Russia in the mid 1800’s was no different than Russia 100 years earlier
Economically based on serfdom
Mid 1800’s:nearly 40 million serfs
Land owners brought & sold serfs
No new farming methods or technology
No introduction of industry (unlike Western Europe) because there was no urban labor force (tied to land)Slide15
Foundation erodes
Government was autocracy – Czar had unlimited power
1825 Decembrist Revolt: After the death of Alexander I, people wanted a constitutional monarchy
Unsuccessfully attempted to revolt (force change)
Revolt deeply
affected
Nicolas I (Alexander I successor)
Nicolas came to believe that government should have strict control of society
the secret police gained power
Many people suspected of treason were banished and deported.
Strong enforcement of censorship.Slide16
ALEXANDER II Makes changes
Serfdom was holding back progress in Russia. There were not enough free workers to work in factories.
1861 - Alexander II takes over and purposes radical governmental changes
Emancipates the serfs “it is better to abolish serfdom from above than wait until it is abolished from below”
relaxed government censorship
jury system introduced
Zemstvos – locally elected assemblies (work on schools, health care, etc.)Slide17
Roadblocks
on the road to progress
CONSERVATISM
ON THE PART OF THE PRIVELEGED CLASS
Regulations tied Serfs to rural villages for 49 years after emancipation (until 1910)
Because there was no available urban labor force, industrialization was greatly slowed
Following disastrous
Crimean War
(1850’s), and emancipation of the Serfs, Czar Alexander had made many people angry.
Radical groups soon formed that wanted MORE change. “The Peoples Will” (underground guerilla group) assassinated Czar Alexander 1881. Slide18
How do Nobles Fall?
Nobility bestowed for military service
Lack of
primogenture
(passing land to first-born), which meant land could be sold
Estates privatized, and eventually sold. Investments leave family hands due to poor management
Lack of laws systematically keeping titled people in powerSlide19
How do Nobles Fall?
High mobility estate to estate
Almost half of the serfs are mortgaged
Nobility no longer required to do military service
Serfs eventually freed
A series of revolutions
Finally, a law abolishes nobility 1917Slide20
Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace
1869
Describes events surrounding French invasion of Russia
Impact of
Napoleanic
era on Tsarist society
From perspective of 5 aristocratic fa
milies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXUcmQrbDkY
Anna Karen
ina
Anna Karenina is the tragedy of married aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina and her affair with the affluent Count
Vronsky
.
A
parallel story within the novel is that of Konstantin Levin, a country landowner who desires to marry Kitty, sister to Dolly and sister-in-law to Anna's brother
Oblonsky
. Konstantin has to propose twice before Kitty accepts.
The
novel explores a diverse range of topics throughout its approximately thousand pages. Some of these topics include an evaluation of the feudal system that existed in Russia at the time; politics, in not only the Russian government but also at the level of the individual characters and families; and religion and morality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPGLRO3fZnQSlide21
Alexander Pushkin
Poet
Shakespeare of Russian
“
The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths
.”Slide22
Nikolai Gogol
Satirized political corruption
Was exiled
“What
a dreary world we live in,
gentlemen.”
“In
the course of reading he became more and more melancholy and finally became completely gloomy. When the reading was over he uttered in a voice full of sorrow:
‘Goodness
, how sad is our Russia
!’”Slide23
Ivan Surgeyevich
Turgenev
Novelist, playwright
First Love
“My son,' he wrote to me, 'fear the love of woman; fear that bliss, that poison
....”
“There is a sweetness in being the sole source, the autocratic
and irresponsible cause of the greatest joy and profoundest pain to another.”
Fathers and SonsSlide24
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
Focuses on mental anguish and moral dilemmas of
Rodion
Raskolnikov
, a poor ex-student, who plans and carries out the murder of a pawnbroker.
He argues that his good deeds cover the bad.
He compares himself to
Napolean
Bonaparte
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W403QQrHPy4
Notes from Underground
The anonymous narrator of
Notes from Underground
is a bitter, misanthropic man living alone in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 1860s. He is a veteran of the Russian civil
service.
The novel consists of the “notes” that the man writes,
explaining
his alienation from modern society
.
Written after exile and near execution. Slide25
Anton Chekhov
Short stories
Plays
The Duel
The story primarily focuses on Ivan
Andreich
Laevsky
and
Nadyezhda
Fyodorovna
, lovers who have moved to the Caucasus.
Nadezhda
is married to another man and some townspeople disapprove of the couple living together.
Laevsky
confides in his friend
Samoylenko
that he no longer loves
Nadyezhda
.
Laevsky
drinks, gambles, and lacks direction.
The scientist Von
Koren
feels that
Laevsky's
slovenly lifestyle is worthless. In fact, Von
Koren
feels killing
Laevsky
would be beneficial to society, an act of natural selection. Von
Koren's
dislike builds until he formally challenges
Laevsky
to a pistol duel.
The tension at the duel steadily increases. None of the men in attendance, with the possible exception of Von
Koren
, want to see the challenge completed. Fortunately for
Laevsky
, a deacon stops the duel before either man is slain.
Laevsky's
near-death experience leads him back to
Nadyezhda
.
“
Everyone has the same God; only people differ
.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdGlMnLxyxESlide26
Big Ideas
Suicide
Suffering to earn redemption
Suffering as a mechanism for evil
Christianity and Christian symbolism
Speaking out against political leaders, oppression, serfdomSlide27
Focus on Ivan Turganev
“First Love” = autobiographical
Father died at 16
Mother abusive
500 serfs
College in Russia and Germany
Moved to Paris to be with love, Pauline
ViardotSlide28
Ivan Turganev
Politically against serfdom
Idealistic about love
Watched aristocracy crumble
Imprisoned and put under house arrest for publishing obituary of Gogol in Moscow newspaperSlide29
Politics During Turganev’s
Life
Serfs
Crumbling aristocracy
Artists, writers, scientists oppressed and persecuted
Dostoyevsky exiledSlide30
“First Love”
Published 1861
Criticized for
not
being highly political
Criticized for being improper
Literary realism—everyday, contemporary life and society