Ministry of Darkness: How Sergei Uvarov Created Conservative Modern Russia

by Lesley Chamberlain

Overview

There is nothing new about the Russian conservatism Putin stands for, acclaimed writer Lesley Chamberlain argues. Rather, as Ministry of Darkness reveals, the roots of Russian conservatism can be traced back to the 19th century when Count Uvarov's notorious cry of 'Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality!' rang through the streets of Russia.

Sergei Uvarov was no straightforward conservative; indeed, this man was at once both the pioneering educational reformer who founded the Arzamas Writers' Club to which Pushkin belonged, and the Minister who tyrannised and censored Russia's literary scene. How, then, do we reconcile such extreme contradictions in one person? Through Chamberlain's intimate examination of Uvarov's life and skilled analysis of Russian conservatism, readers learn how the many paradoxes that dominated Uvarov's personal and political life are those which, writ large, have forged the identity of conservative modern Russia and its relationship with the West.

This fascinating book sheds new light on an often overlooked historical actor and offers a timely assessment of the 19th-century 'Russian predicament'. In doing so, Chamberlain teases out the reasons why the country continues to baffle Western observers and policymakers, making this essential reading both students of Russian history and those who want to further understand Russia as it is today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350116689
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/31/2019
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lesley Chamberlain is an independent scholar and novelist. She is the author of a number of critically acclaimed books, including Arc of Utopia: The Beautiful Story of the Russian Revolution (2017), The Philosopher Steamer: Lenin and the Exile of the Intelligentsia (2006), Motherland: A Philosophical History of Russia (2004) and Nietzsche in Turin (1996).

Table of Contents

List of figure ix

List of abbreviations x

Introduction: The shock of revolution 1

1 A childhood close to power 11

2 The charm of life abroad 21

3 Marriage and a Russian career 33

4 Emancipation or isolation? 41

5 To believe in something different is an effort, a fantasy 53

6 The republic of letters 63

7 A good sacred task 77

8 'Sire, Resist the Friends of Darkness!' 89

9 Retreat into scholarship 101

10 A doffed cap to the Tsar 113

11 Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality 125

12 'Knowing that he is only feigning Russomania…' 137

13 'The Minister of Darkness and the Extinction of Enlightenment' 147

14 A life for the Tsar 159

15 Politics devours everything 177

16 A Russia within Russia 189

17 To eliminate the conflict 201

18 Decline and fall 215

19 From the house of the dead 233

20 Afterword: The struggle for a modern Russia 245

Appendix I A possible source for Joseph Conrad 251

Notes 258

Bibliography 298

Index 312

Editorial Reviews

In her splendid book 'Ministry of Darkness,' Lesley Chamberlain instead trains her attention on Sergei Uvarov (1786-1855), a paradoxical figure so original as to transcend all familiar categories. Ms. Chamberlain, an independent historian and novelist, persuasively shows how he nevertheless exercised a profound influence on Russian education and thought.” —The Wall Street Jourbanal

“Too long dismissed as a cartoon reactionary villain, Sergei Uvarov emerges in the pages of Chamberlain's fascinating biography as a contradictory figure who, in the shadows cast by Europe's revolutionary upheavals, grappled with the apparently incompatible demands of internal stability and cultural progress. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Russia's tortured relationship with the West.” —Dr Daniel Beer, Royal Holloway University, University of London, UK

“A wise, nuanced, and admirably readable work of intellectual history, this book is indispensable for anyone wishing to understand the complexities and contradictions of Russian conservatism.” —Dr Rachel Polonsky, University of Cambridge, UK

“Lesley Chamberlain's portrait of Sergei Uvarov is a marvel of erudition and elegance. Her study of the 19th-century Tsarist minister of education reveals a complex and compelling figure whose life, which combined great power and even greater impotence, anticipates the tragic predicament of contemporary Russia and those who seek to reform it.” —Prof Robert Zaretsky, University of Houston, USA

From the Publisher