Russia's Rome - by Judith E Kalb (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A wide-ranging study of empire, religious prophecy, and nationalism in literature, Russia's Rome: Imperial Visions, Messianic Dreams, 1890-1940 provides the first examination of Russia's self-identification with Rome during a period that encompassed the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 and the rise of the Soviet state. Analyzing Rome-related texts by Dmitrii Merezhkovskii, Valerii Briusov, Aleksandr Blok, Viacheslav Ivanov, Mikhail Kuzmin, and Mikhail Bulgakov, Judith Kalb argues that the myth of Russia as the "Third Rome" was resurrected to create an enduring Rome-based discourse of Russian national identity. Russia's Rome fills a gap in both Russian studies and scholarship on the classical tradition, providing valuable material for scholars of Russian culture and history, classicists, and readers interested in the classical heritage.

About the Author

Dr. Judith Kalb is an associate professor of Russian and comparative literature at the University of South Carolina. Her work focuses on the connections between Russian culture and the Greco-Roman classical tradition. In addition to the Russian modernists, her research includes studies of Russian classical reception from the early nineteenth century to the present day.