Preserving Petersburg : history, memory, nostalgia / edited by Helena Goscilo and Stephen M. Norris.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Goscilo, Helena, 1945-

Norris, Stephen M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--History.

Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--In literature.

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Civilization.

Physical Description:

xxi, 234 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2008]

Summary:

Founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as Russia's westward-oriented capital and as a visually stunning showcase of Russia's imperial ambitions, St. Petersburg has been the country's most mythologized city. Like a museum piece, it has functioned as a site for preservation, a literal and imaginative place where Russians can commune with idealized pasts. Preserving Petersburg represents a significant departure from traditional representations. By moving beyond the "Petersburg text" created by canonized writers and artists, the contributors to this engrossing volume trace the ways in which St. Petersburg has become a "museum piece," embodying history, nostalgia, and recourse to memories of the past. This attractively illustrated book traces a process of preservation that stretches back nearly three centuries, as manifest in the works of noted historians, poets, novelists, artists, architects, filmmakers, and dramatists.

Contents:

Introduction / Helena Goscilo and Stephen M. Norris

St. Petersburg and the art of survival / William Craft Brumfield

The city's memory: texts of preservation and loss in imperial St. Petersburg / Julie Buckler

Unsaintly St. Petersburg? visions and visuals / Helena Goscilo

A tale of two cities: ancient Rome and St. Petersburg in Mandelstam's poetry / Zara Torlone

Petersburg in the poetry of the Russian emigration / Vladimir Khazan

Multiethnic St. Petersburg: the late imperial period / Steven Duke

Leningrad culture under siege (1941-1944) / Cynthia Simmons

Cultural capital and cultural heritage: St. Petersburg and the arts of imperial Russia

Richard stites

Strolls through postmodern Petersburg: celebrating the city in 2003 / Stephen M. Norris.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780253351425

0253351421

9780253219800

0253219809

OCLC:

180690038