Russian Literature and Empire

ThisisthefirstbooktoprovideasynthesisingstudyofRussianwritingabouttheCaucasusduringthenineteenth-centuryageofempire-building.FromPushkin'sambivalentportrayalofanalpineCircassiatoTolstoy'scondemnationoftsaristaggressionagainstMuslimtribesinHadjiMurat,theliteraryanalysisisfirmlysetinitshistoricalcontext,andtheresponsesoftheRussianreadershiptooreceiveextensiveattention.Aswellasexploringliteratureassuch,thisstudyintroducesmaterialfromtravelogues,orientalstudies,ethnography,memoirs,andtheutterancesoftsaristofficialsandmilitarycommanders.Whileshowinghowliteratureoftenunderwroteimperialism,thebookcarefullyexploresthetensionsbetweentheRussianstate'sideologyofaEuropeanmissiontocivilisetheMuslimmountaineers,andromanticperceptionsofthosetribesasnobleprimitiveswhoseexterminationwasnocauseforcelebration.BydealingwithimperialisminGeorgiaaswell,thestudyshowshowthevariedtreatmentoftheCaucasusinliteraturehelpedRussiansconstructasatisfyingidentityforthemselvesasasemi-European,semi-Asianpeople.