Romanov Riches: Russian Writers and Artists Under the Tsars
So intrigued is Volkov with the nexus between art and politics in his native Russia, he follows his acclaimed The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn (2008) with a prequel. �For the Romanovs, culture was the political instrument par excellence,� writes Volkov. But, of course, it wasn�t that simple given the clashing egos and worldviews of the czars and the artists they expected to glorify them. In this delectably personified history, Volkov sensitively portrays the second Romanov czar, Alexei, who began the wretched tradition of exiling and imprisoning writers in 1667, and visionary Peter the Great. Volkov has high praise for cultured and bold Catherine II, who chose poet Gavrila Derzhavin as her minister of justice. We meet Mikhail Lomonosov, Russia�s Leonardo de Vinci, and Vasily Zhukovsky, whose �melancholy and mystical ballads� meant so much to sensitive Alexander I. Volkov revitalizes our understanding of rebellious poet Pushkin and offers fresh insights into Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev. A thrillingly anecdotal and incisive look at the paradigmatic and paradoxical Romanov world of politics, patronage, and the quest for artistic freedom. --Donna Seaman