Download or read book Milton and the Rise of Russian Satanism written by Valetin Boss and published by . This book was released on 2011-11-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No European Devil can claim so long or so political a connection with Russian culture as Milton's Satan. Russian poets came to know him before they heard of Dante, Marlowe, Tasso, or of the devils of the Baroque era. This may explain why Milton's influence was so intensely felt by the Russians, especially during the Romantic age. In this, the first study in any language of Milton's reception in Russia, that influence is traced to an early translation of Paradise Lostuncovered by Valentin Boss in the Moscow archives. British radicals who professed to believe that Milton himself was of the Devil's party were, with the notable exception of Byron and Tom Moore, hardly known by Pushkin and his contemporaries. Russian literary Satanism, although derived from Milton, thus developed its own characteristics which tsarist censors considered morally subversive. A brilliant pleiade of poets from Zhukovsky to Lermontov gave Milton's outcast from Heaven some of his many modern masks. Towards the end of the nineteenth century these inspired the alarming paintings and sculptures of Mikhail Vrubel who, like Lermentov, was obsessed by the demonic. In cultural influence Goethe's Devil had by then eclipsed Milton's, but Goethe's did not survive 1917 with the same political authority. Boss concludes with a description of what happened to Milton's Satan after October 1917, when his connection with the English Revolution gave him an edge his German rival lacked. Lunacharsky, Lenin's Commissar for Education, who admired Milton's Arch-rebel, steered him past Left-wing Communists who continued to regard Paradise Lostand Paradise Regainedas Christian propaganda. Despite such attacks, Milton's Satan resurfaced under Brezhnev to bask in Soviet pedagogic approval as an Anti-Imperialist and 'the embodiment of love of freedom.' Russian notions of good and evil changed before the Revolution and will change again under glasnost' and perestroika. But no literary character has reflected such changes more dramatically than Milton's Satan, who managed to be both a hero to Romantic poets and Marxist critics.
Download or read book The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture written by Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the influence of occult beliefs and doctrines on intellectual and cultural life in twentieth-century Russia.
Download or read book Russian Literature and Its Demons written by Pamela Davidson and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merezhkovsky's bold claim that "all Russian literature is, to a certain degree, a struggle with the temptation of demonism" is undoubtedly justified. And yet, despite its evident centrality to Russian culture, the unique and fascinating phenomenon of Russian literary demonism has so far received little critical attention. This substantial collection fills the gap. A comprehensive analytical introduction by the editor is follwed by a series of fourteen essays, written by eminent scholars in their fields. The first part explores the main shaping contexts of literary demonism: the Russian Orthodox and folk tradition, the demonization of historical figures, and views of art as intrinsically demonic. The second part traces the development of a literary tradition of demonism in the works of authors ranging from Pushkin and Lermontov, Gogol and Dostoevsky, through to the poets and prose writers of modernism (including Blok, Akhmatova, Bely, Sologub, Rozanov, Zamiatin), and through to the end of the 20th century.
Download or read book Satanism A Social History written by Massimo Introvigne and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-08-29 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 17th-century French haberdasher invented the Black Mass. An 18th-century English Cabinet Minister administered the Eucharist to a baboon. High-ranking Catholic authorities in the 19th century believed that Satan appeared in Masonic lodges in the shape of a crocodile and played the piano there. A well-known scientist from the 20th century established a cult of the Antichrist and exploded in a laboratory experiment. Three Italian girls in 2000 sacrificed a nun to the Devil. A Black Metal band honored Satan in Krakow, Poland, in 2004 by exhibiting on stage 120 decapitated sheep heads. Some of these stories, as absurd as they might sound, were real. Others, which might appear to be equally well reported, are false. But even false stories have generated real societal reactions. For the first time, Massimo Introvigne proposes a general social history of Satanism and anti-Satanism, from the French Court of Louis XIV to the Satanic scares of the late 20th century, satanic themes in Black Metal music, the Church of Satan, and beyond.
Download or read book By Authors Possessed written by Adam Weiner and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By Authors Possessed examines the development of the demonic in key Russian novels from the last two centuries. Defining the demonic novel as one that takes as its theme an evil presence incarnated in the protagonists and attributed to the Judeo-Christian Devil, Adam Weiner investigates the way the content of such a book can compromise the moral integrity of its narration and its sense of authorship. Weiner contends that the theme of demonism increasingly infects the narrative point of view from Gogol's Dead Souls to Dostoevsky's The Devils and Bely's Petersburg, until Nabokov exorcised the demonic novel through his fiction and his criticism. Starting from the premise that artistic creation has always been enshrouded in a haze of moral dilemma and religious doubt, Weiner's study of the demonic novel is an attempt to illuminate the potential ethical perils and aesthetic gains of great art.
Download or read book Milton Across Borders and Media written by Islam Issa and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-02-28 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume explores the combination of cultural phenomena that have established and canonized the work of John Milton in a global context, from interlingual translations to representations of Milton's work in verbal media, painting, stained glass, dance, opera, and symphony.
Download or read book The Reception History of John Milton in Russia and the Former Soviet Union 1745 2013 written by Oydin Uzakova and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study divides the reception history of John Milton in Russia and the former Soviet Union into three periods: pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet. The rationale for this division is rooted in the clear ideological ethos that marks each period, shaping Milton's image into a desirable propagandistic mould. Milton's reputation in Russia has undergone a cyclical development, returning to the point where it essentially began, and paralleling the course of Russian religious, social, and intellectual history. The reception has largely depended on the perception of Milton's epic Paradise Lost, in particular on the interpretation of Milton's literary creation of Satan. As Milton's epic has been deemed successful over time, so has the reputation of its creator followed suit.The first notices of Milton in Russia date from the manuscript translation of Paradise Lost in 1745 by Baron A. S. Stroganov. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russian society adhered to the tenets of the Russian Orthodox Church; hence appraisals of the poem predictably focus on Milton's notions of Christian doctrine, especially those parts of Paradise Lost which reflect orthodox positions. The gradual secularization of Russian society after the Enlightenment brings with it the formation of a new, secular setting for Milton's Christian epic, which advances further with the establishment of Marxist-Leninist ideology as a result of the October Revolution of 1917. The official atheism of the Soviet period propagates the Marxist exegesis of Milton's epic, shaping its author into a revolutionary free thinker who rebels against the old political system and asserts his right to liberty. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequent decline of dialectical materialism and faith in Communism, there followed the revival of Christian religion, and with it the return to examination of Christian contexts in Milton's work.
Download or read book The Demonic written by Ewan Fernie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ewan Fernie argues that the demonic tradition in literature offers a key to our most agonised and intimate experiences. The Demonic ranges across the breadth of Western culture, engaging with writers as central and various as Luther, Shakespeare, Hegel, Dostoevsky, Melville and Mann.
Download or read book A Concise Companion to Milton written by Angelica Duran and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With brevity, depth, and accessibility, this book helps readers to appreciate the works of John Milton, and to understand the great influence they have had on literature and other disciplines. Presents new and authoritative essays by internationally respected Milton scholars Explains how and why Milton’s works established their central place in the English literary canon Structured chronologically around Milton’s major works Also includes a select bibliography and a chronology detailing Milton’s life and works alongside relevant world events Ideal as a first critical work on Milton
Download or read book The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies written by Patt Leonard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 1645 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This bibliography, first published in 1957, provides citations to North American academic literature on Europe, Central Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic States and the former Soviet Union. Organised by discipline, it covers the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences and technology.
Download or read book The Gothic Fantastic in Nineteenth Century Russian Literature written by Cornwell and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-12-18 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the contents: From Pantheon to Pandemonium (Richard Peace). - Karamzin's Gothic tale: The Island of Bornholm (Derek Offord). - Alessandra TOSI: At the origins of the Russian Gothic novel: Nikolai Gnedich's Don Corrado de Gerrera (1803) (Alessandra Tosi). - Does Russian Gothic verse exist? The Case of Vasilii Zhukovskii (Michael Pursglove). - The fantastic in Russian Romantic prose: Pushkin's The Queen of Spades (Claire Whitehead).
Download or read book Black Prometheus written by Jared Hickman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Prometheus myth, for several reasons became a crucial site for conceptualizing human liberation in the immanent space of a finite globe structured by white domination and black slavery. The titan's defiant theft of fire from the regnant gods was translated through a high-stakes racial coding either as an 'African' revolt against the cosmic status quo that augured a pure autonomy, a black revolutionary immanence against which idealist philosophers like Hegel defined their projects and slaveholders defended their lives and positions. Or as a 'Caucasian' reflection of the divine power evidently working in favor of Euro-Christian civilization that transmuted the naked egoism of conquest into a righteous heteronomy-Euro-Christian civilization's mobilization by the Absolute or its internalization of a transcendent principle of universal Reason.
Download or read book A Hero of Our Time written by Mikhail Lermontov and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-04-11 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'After all that - how, you might wonder, could one not become a fatalist?' Lermontov's hero, Pechorin, is a young army officer posted to the Caucasus, where his adventures - amorous and reckless - do nothing to alleviate his boredom and cynicism. World-weary and self-destructive, Pechorin is alienated from those around him yet he is full of passion and romantic ardour, sensitive as well as arrogant. His complex, contradictory character dominates A Hero of Our Time, the first great Russian novel, in which the intricate narrative unfolds episodically, transporting the reader from the breathtaking terrain of the Caucasus to the genteel surroundings of spa resorts. Told in an engaging yet pointedly ironic style, the story expresses Lermontov's own estrangement from the stifling conventions of bourgeois society and the oppression of Russian autocracy, but it also captures a longing for freedom through acts of love and bravery. This new edition also includes Pushkin's Journey to Arzrum, in which Pushkin describes his own experiences of Russia's military campaigns in the Caucasus and which provides a fascinating counterpoint to Lermontov's novel. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Download or read book The Devil s Party written by Per Faxneld and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twelve scholars present cutting-edge research from the emerging field of Satanism studies. The topics covered range from early literary Satanists like Blake and Shelley, to the Californian Church of Satan of the 1960s, to the radical developments within the Satanic milieu in recent decades. The book will be an invaluable resource for everyone interested in Satanism as a philosophical or religious position of alterity rather than as an imagined other.
Download or read book Language and Culture in the Growth of Imperialism written by Sharron Gu and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political science interpretations of international relations tend to focus on abstract terms of economic interest, domination, rights and justice. Trapped within this limited horizon, the discipline fails to explain why nations of similar economic structure would have variant ideas for their foreign policies, and why nations with different economic structures and ideologies could develop a similar global posture during certain periods of their histories. This innovative study examines imperialism from a cultural and linguistic perspective, portraying the rise and fall of ancient Greek, Roman, medieval Islamic, modern British, Russian and American empires as a part of the natural life of world civilizations. As these imperial cultures matured through centuries of literary accumulation and interaction with other cultures, they finally found their confidence on the world stage and transitioned from an aggressive policy towards others to a more tolerant one.
Download or read book Children of Lucifer written by Ruben van Luijk and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 880 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If we are to believe sensationalist media coverage, Satanism is, at its most benign, the purview of people who dress in black, adorn themselves with skull and pentagram paraphernalia, and listen to heavy metal. At its most sinister, its adherents are worshippers of evil incarnate and engage in violent and perverse secret rituals, the details of which mainstream society imagines with a fascination verging on the obscene. Children of Lucifer debunks these facile characterizations by exploring the historical origins of modern Satanism. Ruben van Luijk traces the movement's development from a concept invented by a Christian church eager to demonize its internal and external competitors to a positive (anti-)religious identity embraced by various groups in the modern West. Van Luijk offers a comprehensive intellectual history of this long and unpredictable trajectory. This story involves Romantic poets, radical anarchists, eccentric esotericists, Decadent writers, and schismatic exorcists, among others, and culminates in the establishment of the Church of Satan by carnival entertainer Anton Szandor LaVey. Yet it is more than a collection of colorful characters and unlikely historical episodes. The emergence of new attitudes toward Satan proves to be intimately linked to the ideological struggle for emancipation that transformed the West and is epitomized by the American and French Revolutions. It is also closely connected to secularization, that other exceptional historical process which saw Western culture spontaneously renounce its traditional gods and enter into a self-imposed state of religious indecision. Children of Lucifer makes the case that the emergence of Satanism presents a shadow history of the evolution of modern civilization as we know it. Offering the most comprehensive account of this history yet written, van Luijk proves that, in the case of Satanism, the facts are much more interesting than the fiction.
Download or read book Poets Heroes and their Dragons 2 vols written by James R. Russell and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-02-08 with total page 1629 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present volume is a collection of articles published by Professor James R. Russell of Harvard University, in various journals over the past decades.
