Samovars and quills: the representation of bureaucracy in mid-nineteenth-century Russian literature
Russian literature of the nineteenth century provides a valuable insight into the character of Russian society during the period. The figure of the bureaucrat, and of bureaucracy more generally, looms large in works that appeared during Russias golden age of literature. The idea that Russian public life was distorted by a stifling lack of initiative and high levels of corruption amongst officials was a common theme in all forms of belles-lettres. This article examines a series of literary works by major authorsranging from Gogol and Herzen to Turgenev and Tolstoiand suggests that each of them had their own particular insight into the problem. For most leading writers, bureaucracy was more than simply a political and administrative phenomenon: it was also rooted in more far-reaching issues relating both to Russias distinctive history in particular and more universal philosophical problems in general.
gogol herzen russian bureaucracy tolstoi dostoievskii chinovnik