The Ritual Culture of Late Imperial Russia: Performing the Middle Ages
Journal: eScholarship (California Digital Library)
Year: 2018

This dissertation examines how the performance of medieval rituals at the tsarâs court, in the dramas of modernist playwrights, and in early cinema can be read as commentaries on the sociopolitical situation during the Russian Empireâs last two decades. These rituals include the commemorative celebrations at the court of Nikolai II, rites of passage in dramas modeled on medieval mystery plays, and costume dramas of early filmmakers. My approach examines these three expressions of the medieva