The Power of Language and Rhetoric in Russian Political History: Charismatic Words from the 18th to the 21st Centuries

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This book examines the rhetorical force of certain key words in the discourses of Russian state, political thought, and literature. It shows how terms for cultured conduct (kulturnost), political affection (love, liubov, joy-radost etc.), personhood (lichnost), truth (pravda) and geographical integrity (tselnost) assumed almost sacral meaning. It considers how these terms took on a life of their own, imposing the designs of the Russian state and defining the hopes of educated society in the process. By exploring the usage of these words in a wide range of texts, Richard Wortman provides glimpses into the ideas and feelings of leading figures and thinkers in Russian history, from Peter the Great to Alexander Herzen and Nicholas Berdiaev, as well as writers like Mikhail Lermontov, Ivan Turgenev, and Fedor Dostoevsky, giving a sense of the intellectual and emotional universe they inhabited. The Power of Language and Rhetoric in Russian Political History provides both students and scholars with a specific focus through which to approach Russian culture and history. This book is essential reading for students of Russian government, thought, literature and political action.

Reviews

Given present day revelling in, or abhorrence of, fake news, alternative facts and tweeted gibberish at the highest political levels, this work is timely We hear it said often today that words are important. This book demonstrates that they always were. * Canadian Slavonic Papers *
We historians have been talking about a linguistic turn in scholarship for many years now [But] few have really made this turn. Wortman has. He reminds us, in this fine intellectual and cultural history, that the actual words matter. * Slavic Review *
The book is a unique contribution to our understanding of the long dure history of manifestations of power and authority in the Russian Empire, thus, scholars of this period will nd its ndings particularly illuminating and insightful. * European Review of History *
A wonderful contribution to intellectual and cultural history of pre-revolutionary Russia, whose focus on the charismatic words creates useful signposts for ones journey through the many pages of original writings. It should be indispensable to cultural historians and students of eighteenth- and nineteenth century Russian literature, philosophy, and intellectual culture. * European History Quarterly *
Richard Wortman has spent a lifetime thinking about Russian political culture and this fine book brings together many of his sharpest insights in original and persuasive form. * Simon Dixon, Sir Bernard Pares Chair of Russian History, University College London, UK *
It charts a previously neglected realm in the history of modern Russia. Richard Wortman captures an elusive reality that of politically charged polyvalent words, specific uses of which were capable of generating individual or collective feelings, affections and allegiances. The book is destined to serve as an eye-opener for many a student of Russian politics and culture. * Mikhail Dolbilov, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, USA *

Author Bio

Richard S. Wortman is Bryce Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, USA. His recent books include the two-volume Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy (1995 and 2000) and two collections of articles, Visual Texts, Ceremonial Texts, Texts of Exploration: Collected Articles on the Representation of Russian Monarchy (2014), Russian Monarchy: Representation and Rule (2013). The second volume of Scenarios was awarded the American Historical Association's George L. Mosse Prize in 2000, and in 2006 both volumes received the Efim Etkind Prize of St. Petersburg European University for the best book of a western scholar on Russian literature and culture.