Russia, which extends over vast spaces of Asia and Europe, developed as a cultural and political entity under a great variety of cultural influences. From the nineteenth century, Russian intellectuals began to discuss its destiny as a country situated between East and West. In this course we will try to understand how Russia’s distinctive geographical location and historical past contributed to its emergence as an influential player in the developments that took place in nineteenth-century Europe. We will first explore the nature of Tsarism as an autocratic monarchy that constantly initiated reforms but rejected any changes in its own structure, analyze the main characteristics of Russian society and explain why the Russian nobility spoke French sometimes better than Russian. We will also examine what were the characteristics of Russia as an empire and try to explain why the nineteenth-century Russian intelligentsia engaged in such an intense debate on Russian national identity. We will also consider what happened to the ideas of liberalism (and later socialism) when they were appropriated by the Russian intellectual elite.

The sources used in this course will include Russian literature of the nineteenth century,  the “golden age” of Russian culture.