Description
Book SynopsisFrances Nethercott is Reader in Modern European History at the University of St. Andrews, UK. She is the author of
Une rencontre philosophique: Bergson en Russie, 1907-1917 (1995),
Russia's Plato: Plato and the Platonic Tradition in Russian Education, Science and Ideology, 1840-1930 (2000) and
Russian Legal Culture Before and After Communism (2007). She also serves on the editorial board of
Studies in East European Thought and is a member of the international board of
History of European Ideas.
Trade ReviewPresents rich accounts of episodes and aspects of the careers of significant historians, and is instructive with regard to many topics in Russian imperial educational, as well as intellectual and cultural history. ... an essential resource for anyone interested in Russian imperial historiography or the interface of the literary and historical imaginations in nineteenth-century Russia. * The Russian Review *
Nethercott’s book shows the various ways in which history and literature have interacted, as seen from the point of view of history and professional historians. * Ab Imperio Quarterly *
Escaping the straitjacket of conventional historiography,
Writing History in Late Imperial Russia makes a subtle and original contribution to Russian intellectual history by exploring the relationship between history and literature in the work of three crucial generations of historians. * Simon Dixon, Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History, University College London, UK *
By carefully examining the writings of the most prominent Russian historians of this period, Frances Nethercott skillfully reveals the literary impulse in Russian historical scholarship and penetrates into the inner workings of the historian’s craft. In so doing, this fascinating book makes an important contribution to the field of Russian cultural studies. * Vera Kaplan, The Cummings Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel *
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Between State Patronage and Oversight: Developments in History as a University Discipline 2. The Scholar-Artist: Master Historians and their Literary Muses 3. Style: The Literary Cadences of Russian Historical Narrative 4. The Historian's Literary Toolbox: Portraiture 5. Literary Evidence: Realist Aesthetics and Historical Enquiry 6. Place: Excursion History and the Question of Literary Sites 7. The Historian's Literary Compass: Modern Poets and Novelists 8. Historical and Literary Historical Scholarship: A Hybrid Science? Epilogue: The Forgotten Legacy
