Alexander Pushkin’s Russia
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Transcript
[Music]
in 1782 st petersburg gained a new monument that perhaps more than any other
frames the dazzling city on the neva river known as the bronze horseman it's the
equestrian statue of peter the great who ruled russia from 1682
until 1725. peter poses heroically atop a charging
steed with his arm outstretched as he pushes forward the tsar is allegorically trampling
ignorance and backwardness signified by the snake crushed under his horse
although the horse rears up seemingly ready to leap off a cliff the rider
himself remains confident and calm he's firmly in control of his steed and his empire
and he's turning the country's attention westward into the future peter the great
brought russia into europe and europe into russia he invited european intellectuals
professors artists generals and engineers to teach his fellow countrymen
he founded schools of math navigation and engineering he reformed everything from the style of
dress to the calendar itself and as he was determined to make russia
a european power among his most celebrated military victories was russia's defeat of the swedes in 1721.
this brought russia the territory on which this monument to peter the great has stood since 1782. this battlefield
also transformed russia into a european empire
st petersburg is a majestic northern city that invariably delights visitors with
its beauty after long dark winter days residents reap their rewards
with a glorious stretch during the summer when the sun never fully sets
on these white nights of summer the sky casts an almost ethereal glow on the waterways and golden spires of the city
resting at the edge of the gulf of finland st petersburg is a city of palaces gardens monuments canals theaters and
cathedrals still the fact that it exists at all is
a testament to peter the great's vision and will the city consists of a series of islands
streams and canals set on marshy swamplands the surf
laborers who build it paid an enormous price for the tsar's vision tens of thousands fell victim to the
scourge of disease fire and flood as they constructed this urban architectural marvel
peter's resolve in building st petersburg against the odds of nature presented him is conveyed in the statue
of the tsar by the frenchman etienne maurice falcone it is of course
but one sculpture amid many in the capital yet it was almost a dozen years
in the making and in many ways it defines the essence of imperial russia
catherine the great commissioned falcone to create this monument so as to celebrate the centennial of
peter's ascension to the throne and her 20th anniversary is empress catherine didn't share a bloodline with
peter still in erecting this monument she connected his legacy with her reign
it bore the simple inscription to peter the first from catherine ii
as impressive as falcony's design is of the horseman and his steed the stone pedestal on which the statue
stands is a more than 16 foot high single slab of red granite and it has been
carved to resemble a cliff the slab was found in the corellian forest near the shore of the gulf of
finland some 13 miles from the spot in st petersburg that was to become its ultimate home
it weighs approximately 4 million pounds and with technological limitations what
they were during the late 18th century most men involved in the project
suggested breaking apart what they deemed the thunder rock and reassembling it on site
catherine flatly rejected the suggestion she was adamant that the great rock remained
intact until the sculptor could shape it so with some ingenious engineering
tactics and an immense amount of back-breaking labor the overseers of the project along with
more than 400 soldiers and workers painstakingly moved the rock into place between 1768 and 1770.
the historian bruce lincoln said cost convenience human life and labor
even common sense all would take second place in carrying out the empress's command
catherine's determination matched peter's resolve to build his new capital city
and to transform his country any modern visitor cannot help but appreciate
that it is one of the most beautiful almost magical places in the world
the residents of saint petersburg or peter as they effectually refer to it delight in its charm and beauty
of course they complain about the terrible weather about the frigid temperatures notorious fog
and bone-chilling dampness but it's a rare native of peter who doesn't point with pride to this
northern metropolis yet at random historical interviews
the people of saint petersburg are also reminded painfully of peter the great's haughty defiance of
nature's precepts this occurs when the weather turns the baltic ferociously swirls
and the neva rises above its granite embankments floods are more than an inconvenience
they're an existential threat to the city walking through the historical center
if you look at the corners of many older buildings you'll see lines demarcating how high the waters have risen in
different years the frequency and height of the markers is remarkable
one of the worst floods occurred in 1824 it killed more than 500 of the city's
residents and destroyed several hundred buildings in the center the devastation was so great that it
inspired russia's greatest poet alexander pushkin to write the revered poem
the bronze horseman
pushkin who lived from 1799 to 1837 completed this narrative work in 1833 as you might imagine it revolves around
falcone's grand equestrian statue of peter but it's more than an homage to a work
of art to quote bruce lincoln again in just over 500 lines of verse
pushkin's poem told of the rise of modern russia of the emperor who brought it into being
and of the mark he left upon the lives of his people
while celebrating the city that pushkin loved the poem also calls into question the price
that peter and other rulers paid to create the city and by extension the empire itself
alexander pushkin is today recognized as russia's greatest poet prolific beyond compare he wrote poems
verse and novels and his life and art an amazing number of significant events
trends and individuals to begin he shaped his country's literary
language which was revolutionary in its own right he also proved a depth at taking other
men's wives to bed this added to his fame and some accolades
but more often he suffered censorship and exile and he lived to only the age of
37. while still in his twenties a contemporary said of pushkin's influence
one can scarcely find illiterate ensign in the army who did not know his verses by heart
he was a cultural revolutionary and the voice of his generation a truly national poet
to understand pushkin's poetry and his literary significance it's essential to understand the russia
he knew catherine the great died in 1796 three years before pushkin was born
during the brief reign of catherine's son paul perhaps the greatest legacy that the
emperor paul who ruled from 1796 to just 1801
left was the change he affected in the royal succession incredibly resentful of his mother paul
stipulated that as of his reign the throne would pass through the male line of the romanovs
and the firstborn son a woman would never again serve as the russian autocrat
but paul didn't have long to relish his postmortem revenge against his mother
he was paranoid capricious and generally ill-equipped and in 1801 a group of palace insiders
overthrew paul killing him in the process and installed his son alexander on the
throne alexander the first who ruled from 1801
until 1825 initially brought renewed hope to russia named after the
alexander the great of antiquity alexander pavlovich romanov was expected
to be the next great russian ruler young attractive and enlightened many
russians thought his reign was the start of a new modern russia
alexander likely shared these hopes but once in power he came to terms with
the political realities liberalization did not serve the autocracy
the two were mutually exclusive for instance while alexander had
originally hoped to abolish serfdom he realized that in doing so he risked his power
and perhaps his life by antagonizing the nobility alexander had no desire to join the
ranks of the vanquished and occasionally murdered autocrats of the preceding century
so he concentrated on foreign affairs because his rule coincided with that of
france's napoleon bonaparte there was much to concentrate on
after a demoralizing defeat at the hands of napoleon's grand army in 1805
alexander found redemption a few years later napoleon invaded russia with more than
600 000 men in 1812 and initially the situation looked dire
but alexander had learned from his army's mistakes of the past he and his generals avoided large
pitched battles with the french instead they withdrew deeper into russia
using the vast expanse of the empire to their advantage and to strain french supply lines that
stretched across an immense distance the russians burned everything in their path
on september 8th 1812 the two armies encountered each other in the fields of
borudino about 70 miles or 110 kilometers west of moscow here napoleon deployed
130 000 men against 120 000 russians
the battle was horrific each side lost tens of thousands of men
but russian soldiers who stepped onto the battlefield expecting death
succeeded at slowing the enemy's advance napoleon napoleon himself rode into
moscow on september 14th and found the city deserted
this was supposed to be his moment of triumph solidifying french dominance of europe
napoleon had anticipated alexander's surrender and believed that his domain would now
stretch across the european continent from the english channel to eurasia
instead his disappointment turned to deeper dismay as moscow erupted in flames
we don't know how the fire started but less than a week later much of the city
lay in ruins now with napoleon running short on supplies
russian partisans stepped up their attacks in the rear chasing napoleon offered alexander peace
terms but the russian czar responded with silence
worn down from the losses of bourdino and weak from months of fighting and maneuvers
napoleon and his depleted grand army withdrew from moscow on a warm sunny day in october 1812.
they were harassed by regiments of cossacks the tsar's frontier forces
and were without sources of resupply as they trekked across the territories previously
scorched by russian troops napoleon's men starved fell ill
deserted and died and when the cold struck a few weeks later
the devastation was complete horses froze to death while desperate men fought over food
having crossed into russia with almost 600 000 men napoleon left with just over thirty
thousand over the course of the next year and a half russian forces followed the french back
through europe and in march 1814 alexander rode at the head of his own army down the
champs-elysees this became a pivotal moment both for alexander and for russia
alexander pushkin was now just an adolescent boy not old enough to take part in the
military confrontations between russia and the grand army but the literature that he would produce
over his lifetime would reflect the conscious consideration of russian national identity and pride
empowered by the victory over napoleon his coming of age
would also coincide with a new conception of russia's might spirit and destiny pushkin himself would
begin to capture the spirit and the language of the russian people and yet he would also question a
political system that had just brought russia to its new pinnacle of geopolitical power
was enrolled at the imperial lyceum at zarcialo when napoleon's forces had crossed into
russia the state had designed this elite school to train the men who would one day oversee the government it recruited only
the best and the brightest students and at age 12 pushkin was among an exclusive group
selected to form the lyceum's initial class furthermore pushkin was already showing
signs of brilliance just like his great-grandfather who had been a moorish prince
adopted as a godson by peter the great pushkin read voraciously and more
importantly showed signs of being a prodigy at the lyceum he wrote prolifically from a young age
and one quality that makes pushkin's work so effective is the tension his writing conveys
in this regard his art imitated his life pushkin lived dramatically and
turbulently from adolescence he exhibited a short temper
and a wild side pushkin graduated from the lyceum in 1817
and settled in saint petersburg there he established friendships with a diverse group of russians
and he indulged in all of the distractions the capital had to offer he drank and gambled to excess and he
spent as much time in the city's seamy brothels as he did its elegant drawing rooms that
is to say he patronized prostitutes and chased socialites indiscriminately
in his social pursuits pushkin made the acquaintance of many of the young military officers
who had been part of alexander's campaign against napoleon these men had ridden through europe
alongside the tsar and walked the streets of paris they'd seen firsthand
the attachment of the french to the principles of constitutional government and it had affected them yet
if they'd hoped that alexander the first would import these liberal ideals into his own country they were sorely mistaken after
defeating napoleon the tsar substituted the enlightened ideals of his youth with a mystical faith in russia's divine
destiny as a great christian empire entranced by the belief that the russians triumph
over the french had been divinely ordained alexander retreated into conservatism
he championed autocracy and the church in doing so he moved in the opposite
direction of many of his idealistic veteran friends who wondered whether constitutionalism
might find a place in russia many of these disillusioned former
military men now entered secret societies that questioned the tsarist political order
the most prominent of these was known as the northern society some of the poems pushkin produced
during this time resonated with these underground political idealists
his 1817 poem owed to liberty advocated a constitutional monarchy and
urged russia's rulers to let liberty guide their actions noel
written in 1818 questioned the limits of autocracy and his 1919 poem the countryside
advocated the emancipation of the serfs the more these poems circulated among
disaffected elements in st petersburg the more famous pushkin became
and the more he acquired a reputation as a political hothead
yet it would be extremely misleading for me to imply that the prevailing mood in russia
in the wake of the napoleonic wars was one of revolutionary or even radical sentiment
on the contrary even the men who questioned the morality of autocracy and serfdom
considered themselves russian patriots pushkin debuted on the literary scene at
an auspicious moment the napoleonic wars had prompted a burgeoning sense of nationalism
throughout europe invasion and conquest brought an awareness of cultural affinity and
differences liberation brought a desire to capture shared national cultures this prompted
the romantic age in literature it was an age when artists looked inward
to identify the national spirit of a people and when poets turned away from reason
toward feeling spirit introspection and the intangible essence of a people
when alexander had ridden through the streets of paris his forces had not only liberated france
from the rule of napoleon they'd also also liberated russia from a
slavish francophile attitude that had dominated russian culture in the 18th century
russia's victory over napoleon initiated a surge in national pride and as i've indicated
the impetus to celebrate the spirit of russia and its unique culture
came at the same moment that the country's great literary genius came of age
pushkin's poetry captures the national liberation of culture
and unlike the monuments that the tsar state built in saint petersburg to commemorate imperial russia's
military triumph pushkin's works focused on russia beyond its rulers
and his writing questioned the essence of what it meant to be russian with all its tensions and contradictions
pushkin spent three years developing the poem ruslan and ludmila which appeared in
1820 it depicts a medieval russian prince named vladimir
and his kidnapped daughter and it's filled with folk motifs but the action is driven by armed
knights brave princes and wicked magicians as was consistent with european epics
by fusing russian folktale with the european mock epic pushkin defied the parameters of
conventional genre and national styles he was well versed in the language and
literature of western europe especially francis as were most educated
russian nobles of the day yet he'd picked up on the language and culture of his own people
through his childhood nurse russian noble families always employed nurses or nannies
mianyas who lived closely with the family pushkin's nurse
had shared old peasant tales folk stories and superstitions with him
this coalesces beautifully in his poetry and verse
as soon as ruslan and ludmila appeared pushkin's friends showered him with praise
the 21 year old poet had written a brilliantly original piece in in
language closer to colloquial russian than anything his predecessors ever created
pushkin didn't have much time to relish these accolades however on the heels of the poem's publication
the tsar exiled pushkin for his earlier more political writing
these irreverent odes that he wrote in his youth had angered alexander the first so much
that the czar planned to exile him to an inhospitable remote settlement in either the far
north or siberia but pushkin's reputation was so well
established by now that influential friends were able to get him settled in the south
he would spend the next six years until 1826 in what is today the sarabian moldova
as well as crimea and the caucasus finally he was exiled to his mother's family estate
of mikhailovskaya in the province of scoff just east of estonia
pushkin was in exile when an unexpected uprising in saint petersburg erupted in 1825. alexander the first had
died that year and while his brother constantine was next in line to inherit the throne
constantine had married a polish catholic so he refused the throne and it passed to his younger brother
nicholas the northern society the same dissident group i mentioned earlier
used the public confusion that ensued to demand a constitution and they asked troops in the capital to
refuse to take an oath of loyalty to nicholas the first known as the
decemberists these poorly organized revolutionaries didn't stand a chance
nicholas suppressed the rebellion executed its leadership and exiled hundreds to siberia
virtually all of the decemberists had copies of pushkin's poetry among their possessions
this speaks to how his poetry resonated and how quickly he'd gained attention and prestige
in spite of this the new emperor nicholas the first didn't punish pushkin in connection with
the december's uprising instead he summoned the poet to a meeting in saint petersburg
in exchange for commuting his sentence tsar told pushkin that from now on
the poet would be nicholas's loyal servant and the tsar would be pushkin's personal
censor pushkin now returned to his favorite pastimes
while he commanded the attention and respect of the capital's literary salons his personal inclinations took him just
as often to see me brothels as they did to elegant drawing rooms he was a study in contradictions
jeopardizing his entitlement by pushing parameters in art and endangering his life with
self-destructive behavior he was a product of the grand city of
saint petersburg with all of its formality and elite culture yet he'd captured the heart of russia the russia
of villages icons and simplicity that existed far from the capital
with his poetry he moved in elite circles but his characters reflected a wide
range of social elements in the country as a terrible womanizer pushkin used
women horribly in his personal life but his work conveys the beauty and pain of love in its purest sense
and a romantic tradition that remains unrivaled these inherent tensions elevated his
writings to the peak of world literature all the while wreaking havoc on his
personal life between 1825 and 1832
pushkin published arguably his most famous work the novel eugene onyegan pushkin himself
described it as a novel and verse and it appeared initially in serial installments
the russian composer peter tchaikovsky made this work even more famous by adapting it as an opera under the
same title more than 40 years later eugene onyegan presents the story of unrequited love
between the honest and sincere tatiana a woman who exemplified natural
unspoiled russianness and the cynical nobleman onyegan a westernized dandy
the novel conveys the tension that his country's elites wrestled with as they struggled to reconcile their
long-held western orientation in a new age of romantic nationalism
there is no happy ending for onyegan or fatatiana her sensitivity depth and natural virtue
is eventually lost to shallowness and superficiality as the story progresses but pushkin's
respect for tatiana clearly comes through and grounds the poem
in romantic ideals many other russian writers and intellectuals similarly struggled to
come to terms with what seemed to be a divided national identity during the 19th century's age of nationalism given the forceful way that peter the great had directed russians attention to europe and
championed western culture a number of russian romantic thinkers and artists
condemned their country's predominantly elite culture as inorganic
while peter and his successors had brought art literature opera and education to russia
some question the national price that had been paid and this brings us back to falcone's
equestrian statue of peter the great and de pushkin's poem the bronze horseman
the poem follows the plight of a man named evgeny who searches for his fiancee after one of saint petersburg's devastating floods realizing that his love had been lost to
the angry waters of the neva evgeny curses peter as he sits at the
base of the emperor's bronze likeness in turn the bronze horseman rises in anger to confront the lowly man who has dared question him pursued by this bronze horseman through
the deserted streets of the capitol evgeny finds only torment and
ultimately death the brilliance of pushkin's lyrical insights
is that he's able to celebrate peter's urban creation on the banks of the neva
while he laments the cost of ruined lives he writes
i love you peter's great creation i love your view of stern and grace but as the
flood overwhelms the city pushkin also writes the weather grew like in a kettle boiled
and then as a wild creature seemed jumped on the city within this
wonderful poem pushkin captures both the glory of the city and the human suffering exacted to
produce peter's grand creation imperial priorities are weighed against
the bones of ordinary russians in this way pushkin captures the
contradictions of russian self-identity during the 19th century and speaks on behalf of the of his
silent compatriots pushkin censor the czar declared that
the bronze horseman was too incendiary to be published meanwhile pushkin had married the much
younger and quite beautiful natalia gonzalva a half dozen years earlier
in 1831 and marriage provided a certain competence
having chased married women throughout his adult life pushkin now endured the anxiety of seeing other men pursue his bride the most
ardent was a handsome frenchman in the russian royal guards by the name of georges dante natalia herself offered dante some
encouragement and he heavily courted her in november 1836 this personal drama reached a
crescendo when pushkin receded and received an anonymous document it stated
that he had been elected to the post of deputy grand master and historiographer
of the most noble order of cuckolds ouch to make matters worse
copies of the document were sent to pushkin's friends pushkin challenged dante to a duel after
initially being dissuaded from going through with the matter it reached ahead in january 1837
this time there was no interruption pushkin took a mortal wound while dante survived his return fire
pushkin died on january 29 1837. he was the same age as the new century
just 37 years old and his literary legacy would outlast it
with pushkin gone nicholas now agreed to publish the sanitized version of the bronze horseman
the full version wouldn't circulate widely in russia until after the 1905 revolution
pushkin may have been a deeply flawed character but he was a brilliant poet the mozart of the 19th century in his
own estimation he sought to celebrate russia and its people rather than its rulers he transformed
russian literature and gave his country its own language for the roman of tsars of pushkin's
lifetime even the most enlightened of them a russia distinct from its rulers couldn't exist
but pushkin's enduring legacy was to give birth to a tradition of russian writers who would provide moral leadership and
direction in the country in generations to come his efforts
allowed subsequent greats like fielder dostoyevsky ivan tergeniev nikolai golgo
anton chekov and lev tolstoy to follow in his enormous footsteps
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