Overview

Empress Catherine II produced a body of written material so vast and diverse that it seems impossible to provide a general characterization of the works contained in the authoritative twelve-volume collection assembled by A. N. Pypin from handwritten source material. This book does not attempt an all-embracing review of Catherine's entire literary output, which consists of works in multiple genres and languages. The Russian empress's writings have been the repeated subject of serious analysis for nineteenth- and twentieth-century researchers; all of these in one way or another demonstrate that across a variety of genres and formats, with a greater or lesser degree of independence and originality, the literary works of Catherine II always express her politics and ideology. These texts were carefully prepared, their publications and stage productions executed magnificently. As a rule, the most significant works were translated into French, German, and, in some cases, English. European readers, as well as the Russian public, were expected to be attentive witnesses to, and happy consumers of, the monarch's compositions. Amongst rulers, the literary productivity of the Russian empress has no analogue in history. This volume is the first study in English of the vast literary output of Catherine the Great.

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“This is the first study in English of the vast literary output of Catherine the Great. In addition to the memoirs, for which she is famous, Catherine wrote—in French, Russian, and German—over two dozen dramas; operas, histories, essays, fairy tales; legislation; and over 10,000 letters. With breadth and precision, Vera Proskurina opens up the vistas of Catherine’s geographic imagination as she set out to conquer Russia, Europe’s Republic of Letters, and the Ottoman Empire with her pen. While she expanded the Russian empire, she wrote with purpose and ambition, creating her Enlightenment persona as the incarnation of her empire. Proskurina reveals how Catherine had her works performed, translated, and published at home and abroad in dialogue with elites in intellectual campaigns that presented Russia and its autocrat to the world as enlightened. Proskurina masterfully traces the imperial legacy of Catherine’s pen.” — Hilde Hoogenboom, Associate Professor of Russian, School of International Letters & Cultures, Arizona State University “Vera Proskurina’s book is a must for every scholar of Russian imperial history and classical literature, for both research and teaching. And, as I know from personal experience, students love her work no less than their professors do. It mixes a broader perspective of cultural history with the most meticulous philological analysis. Uniquely, Proskurina strikes a perfect balance between rigorousness of her research on the one hand, both literary and historical (her analysis of the parade of weirdos on European thrones as exposed in Derzhavin’s ode ‘On Fortune’  is one of the most amusing scholarly reads I know of), and extreme vividness of the resulting picture on the other. It may seem from its title that the book is dominated by one person, the Empress herself, but in fact, readers are treated to the amazing diversity of voices with their own ideas of literary and state affairs. Enjoy the ride!” — Daria Khitrova, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University

Author Information

Dr. Vera Proskurinacurrently works at Emory University. She is the author of several books and numerous articles on Russian literature and the intellectual history of Russia. Her first book,Mikhail Gershenzon: his Life and Myth(1998), was devoted to the Jewish writer and thinker in the first decades of the 20th century. Her next books related to the culture & political symbolism of the 18th century:Myth of Empire: Politics and Literature in the Time of Catherine II(2006),Creating the Empress: Politics and Poetry in the Age of Catherine II(2011),Catherine II's Empire of Letters: Literature as Politics(2017).

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