new publication: THE DECEMBRIST MYTH IN RUSSIAN CULTURE

[latrigos at COMCAST.NET]

The Publications Committee of the Harriman Institute is pleased to announce the publication of a new title in the monograph series Studies of the Harriman Institute. The Decembrist Myth in Russian Culture by Ludmilla Trigos, a Harriman Certificate holder and former Harriman postdoctoral fellow, has just been released by Palgrave Macmillan. See the book online at (you can receive a 20% discount if you use the promo code P356ED): 

http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=0230619169 

  

http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=0230619169 

  





THE DECEMBRIST MYTH IN RUSSIAN CULTURE 

This book is the first interdisciplinary treatment of the mythic image of the Decembrists, a group of Russian noble officers who attempted, but failed, to overthrow the tsarist government in 1825. By exploring Russian literature, history, film and opera this book shows how the Decembrist myth evolved over time depending on political agendas. Though originally it functioned as a myth of opposition to authority and espoused self-sacrifice, it later became a legitimating myth for the Soviet regime. Ludmilla Trigos reveals how the Decembrist myth inspired generations of Russian revolutionaries and writers and still retains its hold on the Russian cultural imagination. 



Praise for Decembrist Myth in Russian Culture 

“Trigos’ exciting book traces the ever-changing, sometimes surprising, shapes of the Decembrist myth in nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first-century Russian culture. At points in history upon which Trigos focuses in this truly interdisciplinary study, she explores the complex intersections of the historical, political, and high and low cultural responses to the Decembrists. A fascinating book!”—Ellen Chances, Professor of Russian Literature, Princeton University 



“On December 14, 1825, a small group of disaffected officers and noblemen attempted to overthrow the Russian autocracy.  Their revolt failed miserably, and its lack of clear planning and purpose, combined with the fact that the new Tsar, Nicholas I, tried both to suppress the story and to use it for his own political ends helped make it into a rich source of myth and legend.  The Decembrist Myth in Russian Culture explores this process as it unfolded over almost two centuries, moving deftly among works of historians, memoirists, revolutionaries, authors of fiction and  poets, as well as composers and filmmakers.  Trigos’ account offers a unique and engrossing survey of modern Russian culture from Pushkin to Putin, from the classics to the Bolsheviks, from dissidents to postmodernists.  Her account dramatically brings home the fact that in Russia to this day history is still very much up for grabs.”—Marcus C. Levitt, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California 



“The Decembrist uprising was uneventful and led to no perceptible change.  The same cannot be said about the myths it bred. This lucid, informative and captivating account of Decembrist mythology from Pushkin to Putin takes you to its ideological, political, ritualistic-celebratory, literary, film, operatic and media representations, vividly demonstrating that the past is "usable" in infinitely many ways, until—perhaps—it wears out.”—Irene Masing-Delic, Professor of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University 



Table of contents 

Introduction * The Decembrist Myth in the Nineteenth Century * Literariness and Self-Fashioning in the Decembrists’ Memoirs * The Image in Flux in the Early Twentieth Century * The Battle over Representation during the Centennial  * Centennial Representations in Fiction and Film * Re-Writing Russian History: Stalin Era Representations * The Decembrists and Dissidence: Myth and Anti-Myth from the 1960s-1980s * The Decembrists’ De-Sacralization in the Glasnost and Post-Soviet Eras * Epilogue                                                                                                          





Ronald Meyer 

Publications Editor 

Harriman Institute 

Columbia University 

420 West 118th Street, Rm. 1216 

New York, NY 10027 

212 854-6218; 212 666-3481 (fax) 







The Publications Committee of the Harriman Institute is pleased to announce the publication of a new title in the monograph series Studies of the Harriman Institute. The Decembrist Myth in Russian Culture by Ludmilla Trigos, a former Harriman postdoctoral fellow, has just been released by Palgrave Macmillan. Should you wish to purchase the book, you may use the promo code P356ED for a 20% discount online at: http://www.palgrave-usa.com . 





THE DECEMBRIST MYTH IN RUSSIAN CULTURE 

This book is the first interdisciplinary treatment of the mythic image of the Decembrists, a group of Russian noble officers who attempted, but failed, to overthrow the tsarist government in 1825. By exploring Russian literature, history, film and opera this book shows how the Decembrist myth evolved over time depending on political agendas. Though originally it functioned as a myth of opposition to authority and espoused self-sacrifice, it later became a legitimating myth for the Soviet regime. Ludmilla Trigos reveals how the Decembrist myth inspired generations of Russian revolutionaries and writers and still retains its hold on the Russian cultural imagination. 



Praise for Decembrist Myth in Russian Culture 

“Trigos’ exciting book traces the ever-changing, sometimes surprising, shapes of the Decembrist myth in nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first-century Russian culture. At points in history upon which Trigos focuses in this truly interdisciplinary study, she explores the complex intersections of the historical, political, and high and low cultural responses to the Decembrists. A fascinating book!”—Ellen Chances, Professor of Russian Literature, Princeton University 



“On December 14, 1825, a small group of disaffected officers and noblemen attempted to overthrow the Russian autocracy.  Their revolt failed miserably, and its lack of clear planning and purpose, combined with the fact that the new Tsar, Nicholas I, tried both to suppress the story and to use it for his own political ends helped make it into a rich source of myth and legend.  The Decembrist Myth in Russian Culture explores this process as it unfolded over almost two centuries, moving deftly among works of historians, memoirists, revolutionaries, authors of fiction and  poets, as well as composers and filmmakers.  Trigos’ account offers a unique and engrossing survey of modern Russian culture from Pushkin to Putin, from the classics to the Bolsheviks, from dissidents to postmodernists.  Her account dramatically brings home the fact that in Russia to this day history is still very much up for grabs.”—Marcus C. Levitt, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California 



“The Decembrist uprising was uneventful and led to no perceptible change.  The same cannot be said about the myths it bred. This lucid, informative and captivating account of Decembrist mythology from Pushkin to Putin takes you to its ideological, political, ritualistic-celebratory, literary, film, operatic and media representations, vividly demonstrating that the past is "usable" in infinitely many ways, until—perhaps—it wears out.”—Irene Masing-Delic, Professor of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University 



Table of contents 

Introduction * The Decembrist Myth in the Nineteenth Century * Literariness and Self-Fashioning in the Decembrists’ Memoirs * The Image in Flux in the Early Twentieth Century * The Battle over Representation during the Centennial  * Centennial Representations in Fiction and Film * Re-Writing Russian History: Stalin Era Representations * The Decembrists and Dissidence: Myth and Anti-Myth from the 1960s-1980s * The Decembrists’ De-Sacralization in the Glasnost and Post-Soviet Eras * Epilogue                                                                                                          





Ronald Meyer 

Publications Editor 

Harriman Institute 

Columbia University 

420 West 118th Street, Rm. 1216 

New York, NY 10027 

212 854-6218; 212 666-3481 (fax) 


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