SLA 219: General Knowledge 19/10/2008 00:19:00

← Dates & Places

← Serbs/Bulgars-Orthodox
← Kiev/Smolensk/Novgorod—important cities
← Poles/Croats—Catholic
← idea of border/openings--unprotected
← huge but insecure/can’t move
← Primary chronicle
← 862—Vikings invited to rule over Rus/Novgorod
← 987—Vladimir Christianizes Rus/Kiev
← Lives of saints
← 1015—First martyrs/Boris and Glev
← 1200-1450s—Mongol attacks
1560—Ivan the Terrible defeats Mongols
1600—Boris Godunov—after his death Time of Troubles and Romanov dynasty (first
non Rurikid tsar)
1680—Great Schism and “Old Believers” Greek vs. Russian Orthodox churches
1689-1725—Peter the Great/Westernization
1860s—Alexander II and emancipation of serfs
1799-1837: Alexander Pushkin (1812-Napoleon’s Invasion & 1825-Decembrist
Revolt against Tsar Nicholas)
1809-1852: Nikolai Gogol
1814-1841: Mikhail Lermontov
1821-1881: Fyodor Dostoyevski
1828-1910: Leo Tolstoy

Prechristian
twice born/ subconscious of the national soul/ in middle ages through nineteen
century
Khazars/Persian/Finnish/ Varangians (horseman)
Volga/Dnieper
true conversion of lower classes as late as fifteenth century
a human being is identified with an animal or vegetative being/they blossom and
die together
religious bear cult (mighty)
wind, frost, sun, and moon / Russian paganism is less solar
Mother Earth—black, fertile (not virgin), not pure / womb/ not beauty but fertility is
important
forest and water spirits—distrust // house spirit (domovoi)
cult of the dead/rod – Parents’ Saturdays / Russian collectivism / only a transient
moment in rod
Baba Yaga/ full cycle of fertility/ cannibal mother / divine anger against men/
humility awarded/ vanity punished / both the prize and peril of the journey /the doll
and Baba Yaga are the one / hardwork important
Plow- violence and rape (against Mother Earth) Rain as amniotic fluid / Mother-child
bond / Mary

Christian
The Church was the most powerful social element and princes could not even
dream of dominating it.
Orientalized Hellenism or Hellenized Orientalism
In state & art—Orient; In science, philosophy—Greek
Doctrine of sacrament and doctrine of spiritual life
Cyril: East/ monophyte/ one nature in Christ/ Christ not worshipped as God-man/
God in human flesh
Leo: West/ human nature in Christ is emphasized / distinction
Good Shepherd/ mild healer/ Christ as Zeus
Pantocrator is really the icon of both Father and Son (through the face of the Son,
we see the Father as well
Every layman could die a monk
Sacraments are open to everybody
evangelical moralism & national calling  from Slavic West to Russia
no literature because already translated
kenoticism: self-emptying out of own will
Boris and Gleb/ ascetic denial of the world / senselessness of power / voluntary
suffering (Christ)
Act of nonresistance as a national Russian feature / great sufferer
Saint Theodosius is the father of Russian monasticism / All Russian monks are his
children / shepherd (unlike Anthony) –ascetic leaders in Nestor’s Vita / abbot of
Crypt monastery in 1074

Folktale & Epics

First national epic- Lay of Igor’s Campaign
Mother Earth and Rus’ can be identical as genetrix of the great extended family
Epic as the strong affirmation of male power / in folktales, female is active and
powerful
Triumph over other sons by dependency on his mother / Ivan the Fool
Boasting is a fatal flaw
If disobey maternal orders, they perish
Olga—first to accept Christianity / Olga vs. Prince Mal (after Igor’s murder) /
Derevlian vs. Kiev
wiser than any men / three elements – soil / water-fire / vodka (water)

Folk Beliefs
Cow/ rooster/ donkey – friend/ morning/ Christ
Unclean force/ devil / small demons serving the Satan
Any openings as dangerous
Sign of cross/ belt / devil everywhere
Unknown fields/ still waters/ deep forest/
Pregnant women and infants are especially in danger
Domovoi to be pleased/ can help but can also cause trouble / former head of the
family / does not like to be seen/ if alien, can be an evil spirit
bathhouse open to demons and other unclean spirits/ bannik welcomed guests/
Leshii-forest spirit with pranks – dual nature
Rusalka- water spirit – unclean force
Spoiling-harmful magic to an object / weddings susceptible/ shrieking illness
(klikushi) / protect fields from cuts and twists / sorcerer and witches
Healing-magic healers / God-fearing and pious unlike sorcerers and witches / all
effects of shamanism
Literary Works 19/10/2008 00:19:00
← Folk Tales
← Faithful John/ King / Prince / Picture/ Princess of Golden Dwelling / Three
ravens / Horse dead, bridal garment / blood from right breast / Children killed
without much hesitation
← Mother Holle/ down in a well / ugly and lazy one just covered in a pitch
← Cinderella / staircase smeared with pitch/ cut toes to force their feet / has
songs
← Koshchey the Deathless / Prince Ivan / Bulat the Brave (pity rather than
justice) /Vasilisa Kirbitievna / chicken wing of a fowl/ dog / eagle / lobster / Hare /
duck / egg to the sea / His favorite dog/ horse /cow
← The Golden Slipper / Fish / Slipper / prince / very short / meet at mass
← Baba Yaga / orphan / if not hardwork, death
← The Secret Ball / 12 daughters / underground kingdom / needy nobleman
married to the youngest
← Vasilisa the Beautiful / doll / go to Baba Yaga for light / hardwork / horsemen /
curiosity punishable / all burned by the light of Baba Yaga / another old woman /
linen / tsar married her
←
← Epics / Lives of Saints
← Apostle Andrew comes to Russia (belief that Russia is the guardian of
Orthodox church)
← The arrival of Rurik / Varangian leader / Novgorod ruler /
← Rurik’s son (Igor) is an infant / so Oleg is the first nonlegendary ruler / capital
from Novgorod to Kiev / attacked Greeks successfully (910) / his death from the
skull of his steed (serpent) / Igor as the ruler / his death from Derevlians (945) /
elements / then three pigeons and sparrows from each house /
← Sviatopolk vs. Boris/Gleb (other brother being Yaroslav)
← Hilarion first there/ Antonius-Barlaam appointed as abbot/ Crypt Monastery /
← After Barlaam is appointed as the abbot elsewhere/ Theodosius (1074)
← James / but no / Stephen
← The life of our Blessed Father Theodosius
← Brother Isaac / demons as Christ / Holy Fool/ bare feet against the flame / two
years lying there / Theodosius—leave the bread before him
← After Antonius and Barlaam / Prince Sviatoslov – harsh letter/
← The life and Courage of the Pious and Great Prince Alexander Nevsky (1240) /
defender of the country at a time it was under attack in all directions / Boris and
Gleb helped him / Khan Batu—peace / Swede & German—war
← The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn—transition period (1606)
← Foma and his wife in the city of Kazan / ordered his son to sail to Solikamsk
(merchant) / city of Orel and his father’s friend Bazhen Vtory/ young third wife /
devilish woman and sinning / Sunday – not to lose his soul / poisoned Savva to long
for woman / sorcerer understands but innkeeper does not believe / after befriending
the devil, Bazhen invites him to his house again / then constantly sin / rumors that
he squandered the wealth and living a sinful life / did not obey his mother or father /
Satan’s city / father coming from Kazan to Solikamsk, the devil took Savva from Orel
to Kozdamians / war against the city of Smolensk (Poland) / not boyar Shein but the
tsar / illness/ Captain Jacob Shilov’s house in Moscow / after saved, Miracle
Monastery
← Frol Skobeev, the Rogue: (1670) / Novgorod / Frol-poor nobleman / stolnik
Nadrin-Nashchekin’s daughter, Annushka / erotic passages for three days/ to
Moscow to marry noblemen / stolnik’s sister at Maiden Convent / stolnik Lovchikov /
take her away and marry her / Annushka pretends to be ill so that parents forgive
her /Frol as solicitor of litigations (not a decent job) / some money and estate
← Misery-Luckless Plight (1650-1680)/ Adam and Eve story / parents’
admonition / plighted brother abandoning him / went to a strange land / he boasted
in his feast / miserable Luckless-Plight chasing him / stop at the holy gates
←
← Poor Liza (1792) by Karamzin
← Liza/ Erast / her mother not taking care of her / in the boat was Erast
← even peasant girls know how to love
← gray elder on his knees before crucifix – monastery life in contrast
← after two months / campaign / lost money / Anyuta—little girl / one year
before Erast died
←
← Eugene Onegin (1830) by Alexander Pushkin
← Tatiana Dmietrevna Larina: our heroine
← Olga / Lenskii/ Madame Larina (also admirer of Richardson’s novels) / Dmitri
Larin / Feilipeyna (nurse) / Prince N. (Tatiana’s husband) / Princess Alina (Madame
Larine’s cousin in Moscow / Zaretski vs. Guillot /
← Anisia (Onegin’s housekeeper) / Elena, Lukeria… Tatiana’s relations /
Monsieur L’Abbe (Onegin’s tutor)
← References: Petr Kaverin (hussar and socialite) / St. Petersburg restaurateur
Talon /
← Onegin stanza: A b A b (alternating) CC dd (balanced) EffE (enclosed) couplet
at the end
←
← Belkin Tales (The Tales of Late Ivan Petrovitch Belkin)
← his father married Gavrilovna / village of Gorukhino / evil peasants and poor
management /
← Postmaster by a Titular Councillor / Shot by Lieut. Colonel / Undertaker by a
salesman / Blizzard/Squire’s daughter by a young lady / A.P. as the editor
← Shot: Silvio/ ex-soldier & books / army officer / Count and Masha /
← Blizzard: Marya Gavrilovna / French novels / Vladimir-wounded at the battle of
Borodino / Burmin /
← Undertaker: Schultz (shoemaker) Adrian Prokhorov (coffinmaker) Yurko
(police constable) Petrovitch Kurilkin (first coffin in 1799) / late Turikhina (in fact did
not die)
← Postmaster: Dunya, Samson Virin, Hussar, Vanka little boy, hussar in St.
Petersburg
← Squire’s daughter: Ivan Petrovitch Berestov / Grigory Ivanovitch Muromsky /
Lisa (Betsy = Lisavetta Grigoryevna) / Natsya / Alexei Berestov and Akulina
←
← Little Tragedies
← Miserly Knight (Albert) – Jean his helper / Jew Solomon / Baron and the Duke
← Mozart and Salieri – Beaumarchais / Michelangelo /
← Don Juan – back to Madrid / Leporello / Laura / Inez (a dead lover) / brother –
Don Carlos / Dona Anna / Don Alvaro (statue) / Don Diego (Don Juan’s name for
Dona Anna)
← A Feast in Time of Plague: Master of Revels/ Mary sings/ Louisa (dream) /
priest comes / Mathilda (wife) /
←
← Others
← Rusalka
← Miller and his daughter / nymphs / Dnieper
←
← The Moor of Peter the Great
← Moor Ibrahim / Ibrahim / Paris/ military academy / the Countess (Leonora) /
Catherine/ Lisa /Korsakov/ Natalya Gavrilovna /Gavrila Afanassyevitch/ Natasha /
Valerian /
←
← The Queen of Spades
← Lisavetta Ivanovna / Narumov’s grandmother countess/ three seven
ace/queen / Chekalinsky / mad 47,000 rubles lost/
←