Professor Andrei Zorin will be speaking on 'The Ways of Emotional Europeanization of the Russian Elite in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century.' Time Thursday 12th March, 5.10 pm Venue The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre This paper explores Europeanization of the Russian Elite as a cultural project during the reign of Catherine the Great. ‘Peter gave us being, Catherine - Soul’ - this often quoted line became a rhetorical cliché, as it embodied the three main assumptions widespread at the time of its appearance. Firstly: to exist means to be European, whilst individuals and nations outside the European civilization do not have any sort of presence in the world. Secondly: having acquired European clothes, appearances and customs under Peter the Great’s rule, the members of Russian elite had been ‘created’ only physically, and could be compared to soulless bodies. They had to wait until the start of the age of Astrea to claim their moral existence. Finally: the prerogative to endow the nation with a being and soul fully belongs to the state power, and in Russia’s case to the monarch. Publication date 03 Sep, 2015
