Experimental Blog #120

Comments on "Romanov Riches" - Russian Writers and Artists under the Tsars by Solomon Volkov translated from the Russian by Antonina W. Bouis

Monarchy and monarchial society are not very familiar to Americans.

"...the ideological triad "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality," developed under his{Nicholas I's} aegis, ... it has survived in its basic form to this day. It was used, with modifications to suit changing political realities, ... even by Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, and Vladimir Putin."

Although Alexander Pushkin seems to be the Russian writer most referred to in this book, the lives of the other writers Nikolai Gogol, Fedor Dostoevsky, and Leo Tolstoy are usually more interesting to American outsiders. Solomon Volkov's very knowledgable account of the composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky and his interpretation of Alexander Pushkin in his opera "Eugene Onegin" are also very informative.

Solomon Volkov characterizes Leo Tolstoy as a "Christian anarchist", who, of course, had much influence and many followers.

The book ends with the downfall of the tragically incompetent Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra in the February Revolution of 1917.