Preserving Petersburg: History, Memory, Nostalgia

by Helena Goscilo (Editor), Stephen M. Norris (Editor)

Overview

For more than three centuries, St. Petersburg, founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as Russia's westward-oriented capital and as a visually stunning showcase of Russia's imperial ambitions, has been the country's most mythologized city. Like a museum piece, it has functioned as a site for preservation, a literal and imaginative place where Russians can commune with idealized pasts. Preserving Petersburg represents a significant departure from traditional representations. By moving beyond the "Petersburg text" created by canonized writers and artists, the contributors to this engrossing volume trace the ways in which St. Petersburg has become a "museum piece," embodying history, nostalgia, and recourse to memories of the past. The essays in this attractively illustrated volume trace a process of preservation that stretches back nearly three centuries, as manifest in the works of noted historians, poets, novelists, artists, architects, filmmakers, and dramatists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253219800
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	06/13/2008
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Helena Goscilo is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh. Her many books include Russia Women Culture, edited with Beth Holmgren (IUP, 1996), and Anastasia Verbitskaia's Keys to Happiness, translated and edited with Beth Holmgren (IUP, 1999).

Stephen M. Norris is Associate Professor of History at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He is author of A War of Images: Russian Popular Prints, Wartime Culture, and National Identity, 1812–1945 and editor (with Zara Torlone) of Insiders and Outsiders in Russian Cinema (IUP, 2008).

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: Preserving Petersburg / Helena Goscilo and Stephen M. Norris

1. St. Petersburg and the Art of Survival / William Craft Brumfield
2. The City's Memory: Texts of Preservation and Loss in Imperial St. Petersburg / Julie Buckler
3. Unsaintly St. Petersburg? Visions and Visuals / Helena Goscilo
4. A Tale of Two Cities: Ancient Rome and St. Petersburg in Mandelstam's Poetry / Zara Torlone
5. Petersburg in the Poetry of the Russian Emigration / Vladimir Khazan
6. Multiethnic St. Petersburg: The Late Imperial Period / Steven Duke
7. Leningrad Culture under Siege (1941–1944) / Cynthia Simmons
8. Cultural Capital and Cultural Heritage: St. Petersburg and the Arts of Imperial Russia / Richard Stites
9. Strolls Through Postmodern Petersburg: Celebrating the City in 2003 / Stephen M. Norris

List of Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

"[A]n interesting and important contribution to existing scholarship on St. Petersburg's myth, cult, and text. . . . this volume is distinctive."

Universityof Oklahoma - Emily Johnson

A truly innovative contribution to the scholarship on Petersburg . . . The volume should be read by all serious Slavic scholars.

Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy

[A]n interesting and important contribution to existing scholarship on St. Petersburg's myth, cult, and text. . . . this volume is distinctive.

Editorial Reviews

"This collection brings together history, literature, architecture, and the politics of memory. The essays Goscilo (literature, Univ. of Pittsburgh) and Norris (film, Miami Univ., Ohio) have gathered look at the image of St. Petersburg, past and present, with particular reference to the city as a "preserved" site, both in the sense of being cherished in memory and the more negative sense of being embalmed as a kind of open-air museum rather than a vibrant living city. Essays on Petersburg in literary texts, poetry, and the visual arts (by Goscilo, Julie Buckler, Zara Torlone, Vladimir Khazan) join historical articles by William Brumfield (who looks at architecture), Steve Duke (who discusses multi-ethnic Petersburg), Cynthia Simmons (memory of the siege in WW II), and Richard Stites (culture and memory, especially in the early 19th century). Norris analyzes recent portrayals of Petersburg in popular culture, including film. The book includes a number of excellent images (both photographs of the city and images of art works showing different aspects of Petersburg life). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."—T. R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University, Choice, Feb. 2009

"This collection brings together history, literature, architecture, and the politics of memory. . . . The book includes a number of excellent images (both photographs of the city and images of art works showing different aspects of Petersburg life). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.February 2009"—Choice

". . .will certainly introduce . . . students, to the more conventional delights of a city . . . which is better-known for inhabiting the tropes of 'museum city' and 'theater set'. . . . Vol. 68.3 July 2009"—Catriona Kelly, New College, Oxford

". . . the essays underscore the fact that for many Russians, Piter is a nostalgia museum, a sacred place. Preserving Petersburg will appeal . . . to scholars who are interested in the arts and those who are . . . familiar with the city's history and monuments. Sept. 2009"—Michael Hamm, Centre College

". . . the collection truly sparkles as the contributors each in turn take up this snuff box of a city . . . and breathe movement and life into the idealized Petersburg museum.Vol. 68.4 Winter 2009"—Gregory Stroud, Bennington College

"As the various chapters of this fine volume make clear, seeing past the myth to the reality of the city's past and present remains as much of a challenge in the age of Putin as it was under Peter the Great and Nicholas I."—Slavonic & East European Review

"This book is an important addition to scholarship on Imperial Russia's prized capital city. . . . Though St. Petersburg has consistently defied theorisation throughout its history, Goscilo and Norris' innovative anthology provides Slavic scholars with a panoramic view of the city's literary, pictorial and social manifestations. Vol. 62, No. 8"—Europe-Asia Studies

"[A]n excellent collection of essays ... [T]he variety of subjects and methodologies gathered together here will certainly satisfy anyone interested in the study of the former imperial capital."—Journal of Modern History

"This collection of essays about St. Petersburg is a fine contribution to memory studies, urban history, and public history. . . . Everyone looking for a stimulating encounter with St. Petersburg will find it here."—European History Quarterly

"A truly innovative contribution to the scholarship on Petersburg . . . The volume should be read by all serious Slavic scholars."—Emily Johnson, University of Oklahoma

"[A]n interesting and important contribution to existing scholarship on St. Petersburg's myth, cult, and text. . . . this volume is distinctive."—Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy

"An interesting and important contribution to existing scholarship on St. Petersburg's myth, cult, and text. —Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy, Barnard College A truly innovative contribution to the scholarship on Petersburg . . . The volume should be read by all serious Slavic scholars."—Emily Johnson, University of Oklahoma

From the Publisher

This collection brings together history, literature, architecture, and the politics of memory. . . . The book includes a number of excellent images (both photographs of the city and images of art works showing different aspects of Petersburg life). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.February 2009

Choice

This collection of essays about St. Petersburg is a fine contribution to memory studies, urban history, and public history. . . . Everyone looking for a stimulating encounter with St. Petersburg will find it here.

European History Quarterly

. . . the collection truly sparkles as the contributors each in turn take up this snuff box of a city . . . and breathe movement and life into the idealized Petersburg museum.Vol. 68.4 Winter 2009

Bennington College - Gregory Stroud

This collection brings together history, literature, architecture, and the politics of memory. The essays Goscilo (literature, Univ. of Pittsburgh) and Norris (film, Miami Univ., Ohio) have gathered look at the image of St. Petersburg, past and present, with particular reference to the city as a "preserved" site, both in the sense of being cherished in memory and the more negative sense of being embalmed as a kind of open-air museum rather than a vibrant living city. Essays on Petersburg in literary texts, poetry, and the visual arts (by Goscilo, Julie Buckler, Zara Torlone, Vladimir Khazan) join historical articles by William Brumfield (who looks at architecture), Steve Duke (who discusses multi-ethnic Petersburg), Cynthia Simmons (memory of the siege in WW II), and Richard Stites (culture and memory, especially in the early 19th century). Norris analyzes recent portrayals of Petersburg in popular culture, including film. The book includes a number of excellent images (both photographs of the city and images of art works showing different aspects of Petersburg life). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice - T. R. Weeks

[A]n excellent collection of essays ... [T]he variety of subjects and methodologies gathered together here will certainly satisfy anyone interested in the study of the former imperial capital.

Journal of Modern History

As the various chapters of this fine volume make clear, seeing past the myth to the reality of the city's past and present remains as much of a challenge in the age of Putin as it was under Peter the Great and Nicholas I.

Slavonic & East European Review

. . .will certainly introduce . . . students, to the more conventional delights of a city . . . which is better-known for inhabiting the tropes of 'museum city' and 'theater set'. . . . Vol. 68.3 July 2009

New College, Oxford - Catriona Kelly

. . . the essays underscore the fact that for many Russians, Piter is a nostalgia museum, a sacred place. Preserving Petersburg will appeal . . . to scholars who are interested in the arts and those who are . . . familiar with the city's history and monuments. Sept. 2009

Centre College - Michael Hamm

This book is an important addition to scholarship on Imperial Russia's prized capital city. . . . Though St. Petersburg has consistently defied theorisation throughout its history, Goscilo and Norris' innovative anthology provides Slavic scholars with a panoramic view of the city's literary, pictorial and social manifestations. Vol. 62, No. 8

Europe-Asia Studies

This collection brings together history, literature, architecture, and the politics of memory. The essays Goscilo (literature, Univ. of Pittsburgh) and Norris (film, Miami Univ., Ohio) have gathered look at the image of St. Petersburg, past and present, with particular reference to the city as a "preserved" site, both in the sense of being cherished in memory and the more negative sense of being embalmed as a kind of open-air museum rather than a vibrant living city. Essays on Petersburg in literary texts, poetry, and the visual arts (by Goscilo, Julie Buckler, Zara Torlone, Vladimir Khazan) join historical articles by William Brumfield (who looks at architecture), Steve Duke (who discusses multi-ethnic Petersburg), Cynthia Simmons (memory of the siege in WW II), and Richard Stites (culture and memory, especially in the early 19th century). Norris analyzes recent portrayals of Petersburg in popular culture, including film. The book includes a number of excellent images (both photographs of the city and images of art works showing different aspects of Petersburg life). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice - T. R. Weeks]]>

"An interesting and important contribution to existing scholarship on St. Petersburg's myth, cult, and text. —Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy, Barnard College A truly innovative contribution to the scholarship on Petersburg... The volume should be read by all serious Slavic scholars." —Emily Johnson, University of Oklahoma

Emily Johnson

"... the collection truly sparkles as the contributors each in turn take up this snuff box of a city... and breathe movement and life into the idealized Petersburg museum." —Slavic Review

Slavic Review

"... the essays underscore the fact that for many Russians, Piter is a nostalgia museum, a sacred place. Preserving Petersburg will appeal... to scholars who are interested in the arts and those who are... familiar with the city’s history and monuments." —Michael Hamm, Centre College, H-Urban, Sept. 2009

— Michael Hamm, Centre College

H-Urban

"...will certainly introduce... students, to the more conventional delights of a city... which is better-known for inhabiting the tropes of 'museum city' and 'theater set'...." —Catriona Kelly, New College, Oxford, The Russian Review, Vol. 68.3 July 2009

— Catriona Kelly, New College, Oxford

The Russian Review