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Books by lina steiner
Tolstoy's War and Peace: Philosophical Approaches, 2024
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought, 2021
Romanticism, Philosophy and Literature, 2020
Studies in East European Thought, 2019
This article discusses Leo Tolstoy's view of the Russian revolutionary movement. Taking as a foca... more This article discusses Leo Tolstoy's view of the Russian revolutionary movement. Taking as a focal point the writer's lifelong interest in the Decembrist uprising of 1825 and particularly in the personalities of the gentry revolutionaries, the article argues that Tolstoy's fascination for these figures was due to their superior moral qualities, rather than to their political and socioeconomic doctrines. Following Alex-ander Herzen, Tolstoy came to regard the Decembrists as full-fledged individualities and "beautiful souls" (in Friedrich von Schiller's sense of the term). Thus, Tolstoy's much debated "conversion" and subsequent attempts to transform literary art into a medium of religious and moral reform (and thus a peaceful cultural revolution) can also be viewed as extensions of his project of self-understanding and self-formation according to the model of kalokagathia provided by Russia's aristocratic revolutionaries.
A History of the Bildungsroman, 2019
Papers by lina steiner
Hermann eBooks, Dec 28, 2022
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Studies in East European Thought
Studies in East European Thought, 2019
Studies in East European Thought, 2018
Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. That turbulent year fea... more Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. That turbulent year featured two revolutions-in February and October-following one another in quick succession. The first, the February Revolution, overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and ended more than a 300 year reign of the Romanov dynasty, which led to a brief period of a growing optimism and hopes for a democratic future. The second, the (Great) October Revolution, put the Bolsheviks in power and launched the 70-year communist experiment. The event of a great historical significance, the centennial anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, was widely received as an occasion to revisit the topic of revolution and stirred new debates concerning Russia's intellectual and political history and identity, as well as the country's future role in the world. "Revolution" has been one of the keywords in modern political vocabulary since the seventeenth century. However, the term itself has undergone a remarkable change. Thus, seventeenth-century British statesmen and political theorists called relatively minor events of 1688 a "Great" or "Glorious" Revolution, whereas Cromwell's Revolution was called, by its enemies "The Great Rebellion" (Williams 1976, 271-272). One of the most prominent twentieth-century Marxist critics, Raymond Williams associated the modern usage of the term "revolution" with the influence of the French Revolution. He wrote:
The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory, 2016
Pushkin Review, 2004
In the Memoirs of Princess Dashkova we find a curious account of one of the Princess' convers... more In the Memoirs of Princess Dashkova we find a curious account of one of the Princess' conversations with Diderot concerning the socio-political conditions and the prospects of the Enlightenment in Russia. In response to Dashkova's praise of the Russian political system, in which "the gentry serve as intermediaries between the peasants and the Crown," Denis Diderot retorts: But surely, Princess, you cannot deny that freedom would increase their knowledge and understanding, and that these would later give rise to abundance and riches? To her interlocutor's great frustration, Dashkova easily parries Diderot's argument by stating the idea that can be called the cornerstone of Russian conservative liberalism. She says: "In stating your case you have, if you will forgive my saying so, confused cause and effect. It is knowledge and understanding that produce freedom; the latter without the former would produce nothing but anarchy and confusion." (1) The argument between Dashkova and Diderot represents in a nutshell the central problem at the heart of all Russian debates about the appropriateness of Enlightenment ideas in Russia and the methods of their implementation. In this debate Diderot represents the rationalist strand of the Enlightenment, defined by the belief in the unlimited and universal potential of human reason. Diderot considers personal freedom a prerequisite for socio-economic and cultural progress, which can be achieved not through wise government but through the rational autonomy of each individual. Dashkova, on the other hand, believes that education and appropriate personal upbringing must precede the acquisition of political maturity, not follow it. Her point of view is closer to the ideas of the British conservative liberal thinkers, such as for instance Edmund Burke, who believed that a traditional class society guarantees both a sense of personal dignity to each individual and moral health to the nation. (2) Dashkova fears that any sudden change of the established social and legal structure would only push Russian society into an abyss of anarchy and confusion, rather than free the dormant rational powers of the human subject. (3) Therefore, public education and liberal enlightenment must proceed before any major political or social changes can take place. In the first two decades of the nineteenth century Dashkova's point of view on the methodology of the Russian Enlightenment was shared by many important thinkers, including Karamzin and Pushkin. Both of these writers, fascinated in their youths with the Greek republican ideals, in their mature years embraced a more conservative political perspective. Both of them could be called conservatives in so far as they believed that the progress of consciousness and the formation of mature and responsible individuals capable of political participation had to precede political reforms. However, the project of gradual intellectual and moral enlightenment itself presented the greatest dilemma for the advocates of a slow "evolution from below." Thus Karamzin, despite his great contribution as a historian and his indubitable achievement in the reformation of Russian literary culture, failed to offer a viable program of public enlightenment and, by doing so, to reconcile his liberal intellectual ideals with his arch-conservative politics. The task of this article is to trace the differences between Pushkin's and Karamzin's views concerning the emergence of the new "enlightened" personality. I suggest that in the years following Karamzin's death in 1826 Pushkin's thought transcended the inherently limited and contradictory Karamzinian approach to the Enlightenment and achieved, within the framework of a conservative outlook, a more dynamic and viable understanding of the relationship between the development of individual self-consciousness and socio-political progress. While Karamzin sought to bar the individual from interfering with the political course of the nation, Pushkin came to believe that Russia's political stability and historical destiny depended on the free choice and conscious support of each mature individual. …
Comparative Literature, 2019
Tolstoy's War and Peace: Philosophical Approaches, 2024
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought, 2021
Romanticism, Philosophy and Literature, 2020
Studies in East European Thought, 2019
This article discusses Leo Tolstoy's view of the Russian revolutionary movement. Taking as a foca... more This article discusses Leo Tolstoy's view of the Russian revolutionary movement. Taking as a focal point the writer's lifelong interest in the Decembrist uprising of 1825 and particularly in the personalities of the gentry revolutionaries, the article argues that Tolstoy's fascination for these figures was due to their superior moral qualities, rather than to their political and socioeconomic doctrines. Following Alex-ander Herzen, Tolstoy came to regard the Decembrists as full-fledged individualities and "beautiful souls" (in Friedrich von Schiller's sense of the term). Thus, Tolstoy's much debated "conversion" and subsequent attempts to transform literary art into a medium of religious and moral reform (and thus a peaceful cultural revolution) can also be viewed as extensions of his project of self-understanding and self-formation according to the model of kalokagathia provided by Russia's aristocratic revolutionaries.
A History of the Bildungsroman, 2019
Hermann eBooks, Dec 28, 2022
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Studies in East European Thought
Studies in East European Thought, 2019
Studies in East European Thought, 2018
Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. That turbulent year fea... more Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. That turbulent year featured two revolutions-in February and October-following one another in quick succession. The first, the February Revolution, overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and ended more than a 300 year reign of the Romanov dynasty, which led to a brief period of a growing optimism and hopes for a democratic future. The second, the (Great) October Revolution, put the Bolsheviks in power and launched the 70-year communist experiment. The event of a great historical significance, the centennial anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, was widely received as an occasion to revisit the topic of revolution and stirred new debates concerning Russia's intellectual and political history and identity, as well as the country's future role in the world. "Revolution" has been one of the keywords in modern political vocabulary since the seventeenth century. However, the term itself has undergone a remarkable change. Thus, seventeenth-century British statesmen and political theorists called relatively minor events of 1688 a "Great" or "Glorious" Revolution, whereas Cromwell's Revolution was called, by its enemies "The Great Rebellion" (Williams 1976, 271-272). One of the most prominent twentieth-century Marxist critics, Raymond Williams associated the modern usage of the term "revolution" with the influence of the French Revolution. He wrote:
The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory, 2016
Pushkin Review, 2004
In the Memoirs of Princess Dashkova we find a curious account of one of the Princess' convers... more In the Memoirs of Princess Dashkova we find a curious account of one of the Princess' conversations with Diderot concerning the socio-political conditions and the prospects of the Enlightenment in Russia. In response to Dashkova's praise of the Russian political system, in which "the gentry serve as intermediaries between the peasants and the Crown," Denis Diderot retorts: But surely, Princess, you cannot deny that freedom would increase their knowledge and understanding, and that these would later give rise to abundance and riches? To her interlocutor's great frustration, Dashkova easily parries Diderot's argument by stating the idea that can be called the cornerstone of Russian conservative liberalism. She says: "In stating your case you have, if you will forgive my saying so, confused cause and effect. It is knowledge and understanding that produce freedom; the latter without the former would produce nothing but anarchy and confusion." (1) The argument between Dashkova and Diderot represents in a nutshell the central problem at the heart of all Russian debates about the appropriateness of Enlightenment ideas in Russia and the methods of their implementation. In this debate Diderot represents the rationalist strand of the Enlightenment, defined by the belief in the unlimited and universal potential of human reason. Diderot considers personal freedom a prerequisite for socio-economic and cultural progress, which can be achieved not through wise government but through the rational autonomy of each individual. Dashkova, on the other hand, believes that education and appropriate personal upbringing must precede the acquisition of political maturity, not follow it. Her point of view is closer to the ideas of the British conservative liberal thinkers, such as for instance Edmund Burke, who believed that a traditional class society guarantees both a sense of personal dignity to each individual and moral health to the nation. (2) Dashkova fears that any sudden change of the established social and legal structure would only push Russian society into an abyss of anarchy and confusion, rather than free the dormant rational powers of the human subject. (3) Therefore, public education and liberal enlightenment must proceed before any major political or social changes can take place. In the first two decades of the nineteenth century Dashkova's point of view on the methodology of the Russian Enlightenment was shared by many important thinkers, including Karamzin and Pushkin. Both of these writers, fascinated in their youths with the Greek republican ideals, in their mature years embraced a more conservative political perspective. Both of them could be called conservatives in so far as they believed that the progress of consciousness and the formation of mature and responsible individuals capable of political participation had to precede political reforms. However, the project of gradual intellectual and moral enlightenment itself presented the greatest dilemma for the advocates of a slow "evolution from below." Thus Karamzin, despite his great contribution as a historian and his indubitable achievement in the reformation of Russian literary culture, failed to offer a viable program of public enlightenment and, by doing so, to reconcile his liberal intellectual ideals with his arch-conservative politics. The task of this article is to trace the differences between Pushkin's and Karamzin's views concerning the emergence of the new "enlightened" personality. I suggest that in the years following Karamzin's death in 1826 Pushkin's thought transcended the inherently limited and contradictory Karamzinian approach to the Enlightenment and achieved, within the framework of a conservative outlook, a more dynamic and viable understanding of the relationship between the development of individual self-consciousness and socio-political progress. While Karamzin sought to bar the individual from interfering with the political course of the nation, Pushkin came to believe that Russia's political stability and historical destiny depended on the free choice and conscious support of each mature individual. …
Comparative Literature, 2019
Studies in East European Thought, 2021
This review discusses an important recent book by Galin Tihanov, the George Steiner Professor of ... more This review discusses an important recent book by Galin Tihanov, the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of London.
Slavic Review, 2011
Cover image: The faces of "Soviet" sausages on different "Soviet" sausage brands. All of them hav... more Cover image: The faces of "Soviet" sausages on different "Soviet" sausage brands. All of them have the logo "Mesos pakaitalams NE!" (NO to meat substitutes!) Tarybine (sg. fern.), Tarybines (pi. fem.), and Tarybinis (sg. masc.) all mean "Soviet" in Lithuanian. Images courtesy of Samsonas.
Choice Reviews Online, 2012
