Medievalisms and Russia : The Contest for Imaginary Pasts (Arc Medievalist)

Smelyansky, Eugene

Arc Humanities Press（2026/01発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 136 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781802704426
• DDC分類 947

Full Description

This new monograph is devoted to a detailed exploration of the ways in which the medieval past has been wielded to propagandic effect in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia.

From politicians' speeches to popular culture, from Orthodox Christianity to neo-paganism, the medieval Russian past remains crucial in constructing national identity, mobilizing society during times of crisis, and providing alternative models of communal belonging. Frequent appeals to a medieval Slavic past, its heroes and myths, have provided—and continue to provide—a particularly powerful tool for animating imperialist and populist sentiments.

This study explores persuasive—and pervasive—recourse to tropes concerned with the Middle Ages in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia, seeking to explain why an often romanticized medieval past remains potent in Russian politics, society, and culture today.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One. A Contested Inheritance: Medieval Rus and Russia's Origin Myths

Chapter Two. Alexander Nevsky: The Once and Future Prince

Chapter Three. Byzantine Dreams: Russia as the "Third Rome"

Chapter Four. Medievalism as Allegory: The Middle Ages in Unofficial Culture

Conclusion

Select Bibliography

Index