Russia in the Age of Alexander II, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky

306 Pages·2002·1.33 MB·English

by  Walter G. Moss

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ussia n he ge of lexander
R I T A A II,
olstoy and ostoevsky
T D
Walter G Moss
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Titles by the same author:
A History ofRussia: Volume I to 1917
A History ofRussia: Volume II since 1855
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Russia In The Age of
Alexander II, Tolstoy
and Dostoevsky
alter oss
W G M
Anthem Press
London
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Anthem Press is an imprint of
Wimbledon Publishing Company
PO Box 9779,London SW19 7QA
This edition first published by Wimbledon Publishing
Company 2002
© Walter G Moss
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a
retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means,without the prior
premission in writing ofWimbledon Publishing Company,or as expressly permitted
by law,or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library ofCongress in Publication Data
A catalogue record has been applied for
ISBN 1 89885 559 6
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
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I
NTRODUCTION
GH
T A A ii
ABOUT HE GE OF LEXANDER
The Russian word “istoriya” can mean either history or story; The Age of
Alexander IIattempts to be both and is written for anyone who enjoys readable
history.While emphasizing the “story”in history,I have taken no liberties with
the facts,and even minor details such as descriptions ofthe weather on a par-
ticular day are based on solid historical sources.This book’s subject is the reign
ofAlexander II ofRussia (1855–81) and some ofthe fascinating writers,thinkers
and revolutionaries who made this the Golden Age of Russian literature and
thought. It interweaves the personal and public lives of such individuals as
Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev, but it also has a central thread woven
throughout:Alexander II,his policies and the reactions they called forth from
the book’s other central characters,most of whom could be considered intel-
lectuals.
This drama occurs in a psychological atmosphere as real but elusive as a St
Petersburg fog.It is one ofraised but then dashed hopes,ofconfusion,conflict
and alienation,but also one ofyearning for love and a sense ofcommunity.It
is one ofa lonely Dostoevsky in Siberian exile discovering the necessity ofbe-
coming one with the common people;ofthe radical Sophia Perovskaya reject-
ing the world of her influential father and going among the workers and
peasants to both teach and radicalize them;ofa Leo Tolstoy so miserable that
he contemplates suicide until he also discovers new hope among the peasants.
It is one of the poet and philosopher Vladimir Soloviev seeking a vision of
Sophia,the oneness ofthe universe,in an Egyptian desert.And finally,it is one
in which even Tsar Alexander II seeks refuge from the complexities and con-
flicts ofthe time in the arms ofa woman younger than his oldest children.
Although numerous books have been written on various aspects of this
period, most are of a specialized nature. I know of no other historical work
which incorporates the lives and ideas of the period’s great writers into the
story of Alexander’s turbulent reign and at the same time offers some re-
flections on why its outcome was so tragic. Thus, it should be of interest to
students and scholars ofthe period,as well as to more general readers.
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ii The Age ofAlexander II
The collective biographical approach used here,as opposed to an exclusive
concentration on the politics or ideas ofthe era,not only provides history that
is more readable,but more existential,more grounded in everyday reality,and,
therefore, more understandable. As the German historian Wilhelm Dilthey
wrote:“How can one deny that biography is ofoutstanding significance for the
1
understanding ofthe great context ofthe historical world?” This method also
has something in common with the “polyphonic” method that the Russian
critic M.M. Bakhtin attributed to Dostoevsky’s novels. Such novels, Bakhtin
thought,are marked by a “plurality ofindependent and unmerged voices and
2
consciousness,a genuine polyphony offully valid voices.”
This book strives for both objectivity and compassion in presenting the con-
trasting lives and ideas of many of the era’s leading personalities.They found
themselves in a diYcult period of history with no easy answers available for
solving their country’s problems.If these individuals were sometimes foolish,
dogmatic and impractical,at other times they were courageous and noble in
their behavior.Although this work is mainly a narrative history,some analysis
is interspersed throughout the chapters.Finally,the Epilogue summarizes what
the preceding pages have revealed about Russia and its intellectuals under
Alexander II and offers some thoughts about the relevance ofthese findings for
post-Soviet Russia.
The first draft ofthis work was completed in 1987and grew out ofa course
team-taught with Russ Larson on “Russia in the Age ofTolstoy and Dostoevsky.”
I wished to provide our students with a lively,readable but accurate portrait of
the reign ofAlexander II and the leading thinkers,writers and revolutionaries
ofthat period.Many ofthe pictures that appear here were first taken by me in
the 1980s and early 1990s as I visited Russian and Western European cities,es-
tates and houses important in the lives ofthe manuscript’s main characters and
then later showed them as slides to our students.After beginning work on my
two-volume A History of Russia (McGraw-Hill, 1997), I put the manuscript
aside, except for course purposes, for about a decade. In 2000, I placed an
updated version of the work on the Internet (http://www.emich.edu/public/
history/moss) under the title Alexander II and His Times: A Narrative History of
Russia in the Age ofAlexander II,Tolstoy and Dostoevsky(with links to hundreds
of images and other materials),where it can still be found.Soon after placing
the work there, Kamaljit Sood of Anthem Press (Wimbledon Publishing
Company) inquired about the possibility ofprinting a revised book version of
this work,and it is this version that is now before the reader.
Two diYculties that face every Western historian dealing with Tsarist Russia
are those of dates and spellings.Since the Russian calendar in the nineteenth
century was twelve days behind the Western calendar,I have used the Russian
dates for events occurring within Russia and the Western calendar for those
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Introduction iii
that occurred outside its borders. In regard to the transliteration of Russian
spellings,I have slightly modified for use here the Library ofCongress system.
The most noteworthy modifications ofit are the use of“yu”and “ya”instead of
“iu” and “ia.” Thus Milyutin not Miliutin, and Perovskaya not Perovskaia. I
have,however,maintained the more common English spellings ofnames such
as Maria and Natalia rather than Marya or Natalya.Other minor variations will
be noted by the specialist,but need not concern the general reader.
In the many years I have sporadically worked on this manuscript I have
accumulated many debts ofgratitude.At Eastern Michigan University (EMU),
I have been indebted to Ira Wheatley, Russ Larson, James Waltz, Dick Goff,
David Geherin, Margot Duley, Gersham Nelson and the now-deceased Bill
Hauer,as well as to many helpful people at EMU’s library.I also wish to thank
the libraries of Harvard University and the University of Michigan,especially
the latter,which furnished most ofthe books I have consulted for this project.
During and after putting my online version ofthis book on the Internet,I have
received encouragement from Nathaniel Knight,Marshall Poe,John Randolph
and Benjamin Sher,though none ofthem bear any responsibility for whatever
failings this work may have.I am also very grateful to Kamaljit Sood at Anthem
Press for his many efforts in encouraging and overseeing the publication ofThe
Age ofAlexander II.As always,my greatest debt is to my wife,Nancy.
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C
ONTENTS
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art ne
P O
1. An Emperor’s Funeral,1855 3
2. Lieutenant Tolstoy in the Crimea 6
3. The Tsar Visits Moscow 11
4. A Professor and a Banquet 15
5. Tolstoy in the Capital 21
6. The Tsar,the Serfs and the Coronation 28
7. Dostoevsky in Exile 34
8. Michael Bakunin 40
9. The Muravievs and Perovskys,Siberia and China 46
10. Two Noblemen:Tolstoy and Turgenev 51
11. Herzen and The Bellin London 61
12. Tolstoy and Bakunin visit Herzen 70
13. Turgenev and Dostoevsky visit Herzen 77
art wo
P T
14. A Fateful Year,1866 87
15. Nekrasov and Muraviev the Hangman 92
16. The Perovskys and Herzen in Geneva 98
17. Dostoevsky and Anna Snitkina 103
18. Professor Soloviev and his Family 108
19. Tolstoy:a Marriage and a Masterpiece 113
20. A Shot in Paris 121