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Pushkin the historian : the evolution of Pushkin's views on rebellion, political legitimacy and the writing of history

Alexander Pushkin devoted the last five years of his life to research in the imperial archives in St. Petersburg publishing a number of works dealing with such historical figures as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Boris Godunov, and the rebel leaders Mazepa and Pugachev. This thesis examines Pushkin's historiographical methodology and conclusions and considers Pushkin's writings from the viewpoint of the historian rather than the literary critic. It offers a chronological study of the four fictional and non-fictional works in which Pushkin analysed major figures and events in Russian history and traces the importance he attributed to them for the development of the Russian national consciousness. The themes of rebellion against the state and political legitimacy predominate in this investigation and shed light on how Pushkin's study of history reinforced and, in some instances altered, his own fundamental political and social beliefs.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.27929
Date January 1997
CreatorsBelardo, Anthony W.
ContributorsBoss, Valentin (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of History.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001615695, proquestno: MQ37188, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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