This book analyzes the rise and evolution of Russian literary travel writing together with the cultural and national self-consciousness that it engendered in the period 1700-1850. Through the examination of widely diverse texts that describe travels either in Europe or within the Russian Empire, the book describes how “literary” travel writing defined itself against the background of alternative forms (such as scientific travel accounts, official records of the sovereign’s tours, etc.) and then tracks the development of this form in Russian tradition as authors aspired first to imitate and then to appropriate Western literary models. Ideally suited for the contemplation of questions about Russia’s role with respect to the West, literary travel writing gradually became a form capable of articulating a Russian point of view. Its evolution also constitutes the process by which Russian letters learned to articulate “imaginary geographies”, or conceptions of place that are linked to specific ideas of the self. As this book demonstrates, literary travel writing played a crucial role in the development of Russian ideas of geography, identity, and cultural tradition. In particular, the expression of a national identity, the discovery of a national culture, and conceptions of place—both Russian and Western European—were among the primary achievements of the travel genre and constituted a legacy fundamental to nineteenth-century prose fiction.

Breaking Ground: Travel and National Culture in Russia from Peter I to the Era of Pushkin

DICKINSON, SARA
2006-01-01

Abstract

This book analyzes the rise and evolution of Russian literary travel writing together with the cultural and national self-consciousness that it engendered in the period 1700-1850. Through the examination of widely diverse texts that describe travels either in Europe or within the Russian Empire, the book describes how “literary” travel writing defined itself against the background of alternative forms (such as scientific travel accounts, official records of the sovereign’s tours, etc.) and then tracks the development of this form in Russian tradition as authors aspired first to imitate and then to appropriate Western literary models. Ideally suited for the contemplation of questions about Russia’s role with respect to the West, literary travel writing gradually became a form capable of articulating a Russian point of view. Its evolution also constitutes the process by which Russian letters learned to articulate “imaginary geographies”, or conceptions of place that are linked to specific ideas of the self. As this book demonstrates, literary travel writing played a crucial role in the development of Russian ideas of geography, identity, and cultural tradition. In particular, the expression of a national identity, the discovery of a national culture, and conceptions of place—both Russian and Western European—were among the primary achievements of the travel genre and constituted a legacy fundamental to nineteenth-century prose fiction.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/234977
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