St. Petersburg: The Myth and the City Explained in Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” and Gogol’s “Nevsky Prospect”

One of the ways the setting is so impactful throughout the book is it shows the decay of a city and country through an awful winter. The setting is so important during this book because it adds to the challenge that both Lev and Kolya face. A scene that really demonstrates the utter atrocity and discrepancy of the setting in the book is when they find the young boy at the chicken coop. During which, they see the boy cold and dying of starvation. One of the most powerful quotes in the book is, “The fierce souls who survived winter after winter in Siberia possessed something I did not, great faith in some splendid destiny, whether God’s kingdom or justice or the distant promise of revenge. Or maybe they were so beaten down, they became nothing more than animals on their hind legs, working at their masters’ command …. and dreaming of nothing but the end.” (Benioff, 34) This brings perspective to the reader and shows them the hardships that people faced each day. Lastly, the most important characteristic of the setting in the book, were the morose people of Leningrad. The reason why the people are so important to the setting of this book is because they add a depth of detail that cannot be described by the landscape of Leningrad itself. The people’s suffering is represented strongly in one quote, “You have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold, when we slept, if we slept, we dreamed of the feasts we had carelessly eaten seven months earlier.” (Benioff, 1) This quote shows how the people suffer and how remiss they were about the food they had available months before. Another powerful example of how desperate people were, was when you hear of them eating paper mixed with glue just to fill themselves up, or even saw dust. The setting in this book adds a tremendous amount of detail, (Active Voice) and

Gurov, dissatisfied with his monotonous life, goes to Anna because he needs the scandal to relieve a numbness that has taken effect, not because he loves her. She merely reciprocates his affection, not out of love, but to escape the entrapment she feels from her marriage. In a subtle climax during his return home to Moscow, Gurov feels the agonizing absence of anyone he can talk to meaningfully about the personal secrecies of his life, specifically Anna. This intolerable sensation sends him to “S—,“ to find her. Only when Gurov is standing outside Anna’s house does he actually relate to her situation and form some genuine connection. “Just opposite the house stretched a long grey fence adorned with nails…One would run away from a fence like that," thought Gurov, looking from the fence to the windows of the house and back again…He loathed the grey fence more and more, and by now he thought irritably that Anna Sergeyevna had forgotten him, and was perhaps already amusing herself with some one else, and that that was very natural in a young woman who had nothing to look at from morning till night but that confounded fence” (p.230). With Gurov’s realization, he actually escapes his fenced in world and partially enters her miserable one. In sharing a connection, their emotions and psychological needs start to blend together and they become entrapped by the same fence, where inside, the two of them are alone and vulnerable in a shared arena. This isolation

Petersburg, who are noticeably lower class, begin to plot and scheme in “A Rumor in St. Petersburg” by selling, what they claim are, “authentic” items belonging to the fallen Romanov family, including Anastasia. They are motivated to deceive others in order to receive monetary rewards. More specifically, Dimitri and Vlad, whose jobs are never disclosed but they are dressed in dull and mundane clothing (so it can be assumed that they are of lower class), brag about how they plan on committing the “biggest con in history” by finding a girl who can play the role of princess Anastasia. It is important to question why they would be willing to go through such drastic measures. The reoccurring theme in Anastasia is those in the lower class are motivated by money. With them belonging to the lower class, where money is not readily available item, they must accomplish their goal of attaining money by any means necessary. Hence, the working class actions are driven by the thought of obtaining money.

In “A Guide to a Renamed City” Joseph Brodsky wrote that at a certain point Saint-Petersburg became dependent on its reflection in the mirror, namely the literature. After walking Moscow's streets this June as much as I did in my university years, I made sure for myself what the Moscow's reflection is. It's a nightmare, full of unworked-through traumas and fears, which it tries to bury again, this time in memory, with the help of multiplying asphalt layers and myriads of fake facades and squares.

From the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, anecdotes were very popular in Russian culture. The most well-used anecdotes had to do with peasants and ethnic minorities which the audience found funny. In the work, Entertaining Tsarist Russia edited by James von Geldern and Louise McReynolds, one is given examples of the anecdotes used during this time period. These stories are more stereotypical of those they are portraying, which in Russian culture was humorous. The anecdotes used in this work, although meant to be funny, shows the underlying social problems in Russia at this time.

His conflict shows us the peasant’s dignity in the depths of deprivation. His full tolerance of his new identity and of his camp life, and his remarkable ability to build a worthwhile existence for himself out of the capricious camp system, make him a spiritual hero. His intensity in living, eating, and working puts him in control of his world. This is exemplified when Shukhov labors on a brick wall, the narrator says that he concentrates on it as if he owned every inch of it. In a way, although he is a slave, he is still the leader of his own small dominion. He is not an aristocrat by birth, but inwardly he is proud, dominant, and invulnerable. Accordingly, immortalizing Shukhov through publication will paint a poignant portrait of survival to the Soviet people, with the added bonus of expediting the liberalization of the national political and intellectual climate.

Reading # 8 Pages 137-154 Reading Log Strategy: Analyze a character Poleshuk 5 The author, Fraser, introduces the character of the Russian nobleman, Pencherjevsky, for the purpose of further illustrating the cruelty towards the serfs and to assist the plot development for Flashman. Flashman goes into detail about how Pencherjevsky considered himself to be a kind master for although he beats and sends his closest servants to Siberia for minor infractions: “ ‘I never touch a serf-women’ ” (140). The cruelty towards the serfs directly led to the russian revolution. Pencherjevsky speaks of Karl Marx as, “ ‘Vomiting his venom over Europe’ ” (141).

To further the understanding of the reader, the author takes us back into the Underground Man’s past to show how there was no singular cause of his present isolation rather he has been this way for many years. During the beginning of the realism period of writing, Notes from Underground was considered to be first of its kind. Dostoevsky used his own experiences and the political situation that occurred during that time to bring out the very real character like the Underground Man.

The story unfolds very smoothly and evenly in spite of of the stirring and at the same time troubling subject of the matter. We get acquainted with the main characters – The Crutchman family “so very very happy and so temperate in all their habits and so pleased with everything that came their way”, due to the anaphoric repetition the author creates intensification, that states the problem –

Notes from the underground, is a book about a man who is both physically and mentally confused, unhappy, and lonely. He is a retired government worker who lives in St. Petersburg whose life is consumed with criticizing everything. If the reader is not careful, this book can cause perplexity, because as you read the story you start to contemplate how someone can behave and think as negative as the “unknown man.” Appolon is a worker who resides in the unknown man’s house whom he does not like, but refuses to fire. The narrator’s actions and attitude towards his servant, Appolon, are similar to the story of the man who thinks of himself as a mouse because the unknown man believes human lives like a mouse has no meaning, when challenged or in despair retreat is the best option, and both species routine are the same even if it is not beneficial to either.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground (1864/2008) comes across as a diary penned by a self-described “spiteful” and “unattractive” anonymous narrator (p. 7). The narrator’s own self-loathing characterized by self-alienation is so obvious, that he is often referred to by critics as the Underground Man (Frank 1961, p. 1). Yet this Underground Man is the central character of Dostoyevsky’s novel and represents a subversion of the typical courageous hero. In this regard, the Underground man is an anti-hero, since as a protagonist he not only challenges the typical literary version of a hero, but also challenges conventional thinking (Brombert 1999, p. 1).

My paper, “Underground Cathedrals: Moscow’s Struggle for a Subterranean Masterpiece,” is a Soviet History related topic. The paper analyzes the process of building Moscow’s first Metro line from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. I hope that my paper conveys how building the Moscow metro was a condensed version of the narrative of building socialism and the individual’s role within that narrative.

Mackenzie Burnside RUSS 321 Essay #1 9/27/15 European Influences in Eugene Onegin In the 19th century, Peter the Great created westernizing reforms in Russia. Prior to this, Russia’s written language was only used for clerical writing, and now the country needs a modernized language for new fiction novels. Many of the new novels exhibit a European influence as Russia transitions from their traditional culture into a westernized culture. Alexander Pushkin’s novel Eugene Onegin is one of the novels influenced by European culture at this time.

The role of Russian literature is very difficult to interpret. This multifaceted role as literature itself. Gorky wrote "Our literature - our pride. The pinnacle of the world of humanity" - called Russian literature. Classical Russian literature - is a model for many people. All the same, Maxim Gorky wrote: "Giant Pushkin - the greatest pride in our and most complete expression of the spiritual forces of Russia, and merciless to yourself and others Gogol, yearning Lermontov, sad Turgenev, wrathful Nekrasov, the great rebel Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, magician of language Ostrovsky - are not similar to each other, as it can be with us Rus ', and we add that they are our prophets, teachers, the conscience of the nation.” To their creativity, to the creation of other Russian writers person turns his entire life: looking for answers to their questions about the soul, understanding the science of human relations, gender, learning to live.

The birth of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin on June 6, 1799 ushered in a period of revolution in Russian literature. Pushkin’s noble upbringing afforded him the opportunity to study under French and Russian tutors, which lead to his passion and interest in poetry and prose work. After studying at the Imperial Lyceum, Pushkin first published his work in The Messenger of Europe, a Russian journal, at age 15. The censorship of Tsar Nicolaus I had a profound effect on his works, which had themes that were at times unsettling to the autocrat of Russia. Pushkin did not have his own style, but instead used the ideas of other to form his own unique style (Merrimen). Pushkin believed that it was important to not only write an interesting story, but also to write poetry or prose an elegant, precise, polished, and well executed way (Leatherbarrow 368). Pushkin’s major theme dealt with the balance of light, darkness, fire, and coldness, and then relating these ideas to social and political occurrences in his homeland (Skorov 573-574). Among Russian literary critics, Pushkin has received superstardom for his use of language to articulate his ideas in a way that many others could not, but, in other countries around the world, the same appreciation for Pushkin’s work does not exist. Scholars attest this to the difficulty in translating Tsar Nicolaus’ “native language,” which was not present in Western Europe during Pushkin’s life (Emerson 653-654). Throughout his works, “Russia’s Bard”