“Tashkent Has Gained Sad Glory”: The Death of Vera Komissarzhevskaya and the Limits of Russian Culture in Late Imperial Turkestan
Journal: Quaestio Rossica
Year: 2024

The unexpected death of the famous actress Vera Fedorovna Komissarzhevskaya while on tour in Tashkent was both a major event for Russian speakers in Turkestan and an empire-wide media sensation. This article examines coverage of the death of Kommissarzhevskaуa from smallpox in 1910 in the Russian-language periodical press in both Turkestan and leading urban centers in the Russian Empire. The actions of mourners in Tashkent and coverage of these events locally and in the capital press reveal that