About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherCornell University Press

ISBN-101501770101

ISBN-139781501770104

eBay Product ID (ePID)10058636836

Product Key Features

Book TitleHaunted Empire : Gothic and the Russian Imperial Uncanny

Number of Pages216 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2023

TopicGothic & Romance, Russian & Former Soviet Union

IllustratorYes

GenreLiterary Criticism

AuthorValeria Sobol

Book SeriesNiu Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.5 in

Item Weight16 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

ReviewsHaunted Empire is an outstanding contribution to nineteenth-century studies that brings the 'Gothic turn' to the fore and illuminates hitherto unexamined aspects of Russia's imperial experience., Valeria Sobol's book applies a colonial lens to analyze gothic motives in the Russian-language literature of the nineteenth century....While the English gothic has been studied from a postcolonial perspective, Haunted Empire pioneers this approach in the Russian imperial context., Valeria Sobol's book applies a colonial lens to analyze gothic motives in the Russian-language literature of the nineteenth century., Valeria Sobol's closely researched, absorbingly written monograph turns a long-awaited Gothic lens on Russian and Ukrainian literature of the Romantic era., While the English gothic has been studied from a postcolonial perspective, Haunted Empire pioneers this approach in the Russian imperial context., Timely, concise, and brilliant. Sobol's lucid and fluid prose ably traverses a host of conceptual frames and disciplinary fields. A necessary reading for Slavists, comparatists, and historians alike. Akin to finding a brittle old map of the Russian imperial consciousness with striking twenty-first century resonance.

Table Of ContentIntroduction: From the Island of Bornholm to Taman: The Literary Trajectory of the Russian Imperial Uncanny Part I: The North 1. A Gothic Prelude: Nikolai Karamzin's "The Island of Bornholm" 2. In Search of the Russian Middle Ages: The Livonian Tales of the 1820s 3. "Gloomy Finland" and Russian Gothic Tales of Assimilation Part II: The South 4. Ukraine: Russia's Uncanny Double 5. On Mimicry and Ukrainians: Empire and the Gothic in Antonii Pogorelsky's The Convent Graduate 6. 'Tis Eighty Years Since: Panteleimon Kulish's Gothic Ukraine

SynopsisHaunted Empire shows that Gothic elements in Russian literature frequently expressed deep-set anxieties about the Russian imperial and national identity. Valeria Sobol argues that the persistent presence of Gothic tropes in the literature of the Russian Empire is a key literary form that enacts deep historical and cultural tensions arising from Russia's idiosyncratic imperial experience. Her book brings together theories of empire and colonialism with close readings of canonical and less-studied literary texts as she explores how Gothic horror arises from the threatening ambiguity of Russia's own past and present, producing the effect Sobol terms "the imperial uncanny." Focusing on two spaces of the imperial uncanny--the Baltic north/Finland and the Ukrainian south-- Haunted Empire reconstructs a powerful discursive tradition that reveals the mechanisms of the Russian imperial imagination that are still at work today. Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities., Haunted Empire shows that Gothic elements in Russian literature frequently expressed deep-set anxieties about the Russian imperial and national identity. Valeria Sobol argues that the persistent presence of Gothic tropes in the literature of the Russian Empire is a key literary form that enacts deep historical and cultural tensions arising from Russia's idiosyncratic imperial experience. Her book brings together theories of empire and colonialism with close readings of canonical and less-studied literary texts as she explores how Gothic horror arises from the threatening ambiguity of Russia's own past and present, producing the effect Sobol terms "the imperial uncanny." Focusing on two spaces of the imperial uncanny?the Baltic north/Finland and the Ukrainian south? Haunted Empire reconstructs a powerful discursive tradition that reveals the mechanisms of the Russian imperial imagination that are still at work today. Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.