Dashkova: A Life of Influence and Exile. Transactions, 97:3. American Philosophical Society by A. Woronzoff-Dashkoff (review)

Abstract

reviews 749 It seemsverylikelysince in the poetical discussionwhichfollowed(and Nikolev,the blindauthorof the play belongedto the circleof Dashkova, Paninand thepartisans oftheGrandDuke Paul)itwas madeclearthatgood government dependedon enforcement ofthelaw,butreadingthequotation today- in Russian- it is likelythatCatherinedeliberately acceptedthe implications ofNikolev'slanguagein orderto avoid exciting publicopinion againsther. The final article inthecollection, byPatrick O 'Meara,dealswiththedeath ofa youngmanin a duel,whosefuneral turned intowhathas beenregarded as thefirst publicpolitical demonstration inRussianhistory, fanned byfuture Decembrists. The failureof a youngnoble to marrya girlof lowersocial statusto whom he was betrothed (see the problemscreatedby PeterFs law regarding betrothal in thearticleofMaria Di Salvo above)led to a fatal duel betweenthegroomand thebride'sbrother, conductedwithno holds barred,theduellists firing at threepaces. The funeral ofthebrother turned intoa massivedemonstration againsttheexisting socialconditions in Russia, attendedby manyfuture Decembrists, and commemorated in verseby the Decembrist poetRyleev. These twovolumesform a finetribute to a scholarwhodiedtoo soon. London Isabel de Madariaga Woronzoff-Dashkoff, A. Dashkova: A Life ofInfluence andExile.Transactions, 97: 3. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA, 2008.xx + 331pp. Illustrations. Genealogies.Chronology.Notes. Selected bibliography. Index.$29.00 (paperback). PrincessEkaterina Dashkova can be foundon anyshort-list ofimportant eighteenth-century Russians,forherlifetoucheson keyissuesoftheera Enlightenment culture,palace revolutions, aristocratic familypolitics,a gender-bending courtculture, Russians'ambivalencetowardtheWest and more.Her biography is well wortha full-length study, whichis what the volumebyAlexander Woronzoff-Dashkoff seeksto provide. The subtitle, A Lifeof Influence and Exile,sums up the centralthesis. Dashkova was a figureof considerableinfluencein CatherinianRussia, whether as a conspirator in the 1762coup, as director of theAcademyof Sciencesand the RussianAcademy,or as a contributor to the intellectual networks oftheEnlightenment in Russia and abroad.The obverseof'influence ',however, was 'exile'- herfamily ostracized herforhelpingto overthrow their patronPeterIII, shecameintoconflict withCatherine II and her loversand courtiers, and Peter'sson,Paul I, eventually metedout a belated retribution forthecoup againsthisfather. In reviewing theupsand downsofhercareer,thebook,whichthroughout follows a chronological order,developsseveralrecurrent themes.Dashkova took seriously her 'feminine' privateobligationsas a daughter,wifeand mother, yetalsopursueda 'masculine' publiccareerat courtand in thestate service. Whether educating herchildren, managingherestates, or governing 750 SEER, 88, 4, OCTOBER 2010 the Academy of Sciences, she persistently upheld Enlightenment ideals. However,hergenderidentity conflicted withhercareerambitions, herhighmindedcommitment to Enlightenment valuesencouragedan outspokenness thatwas politically self-destructive, and keyrelationships in herlife- with her father, siblings and children, and withCatherineand her courtiers werebitter failures. Our principal sourceofinformation is hermemoirs, but as Woronzoff-Dashkoff helpfully pointsout,theseneed to be treatedwith cautionbecause theywere an oftenmisleading exercisein post-facto selfjustification . We are left, in theend,withtheimageofa talented, ambitious, decent,quixoticidealist, oftendisappointed by lifebut alwayswilling to try again. Professor Woronzoff-Dashkoff (who teachesRussian literature at Smith College)is himself descendedfrommembersofDashkova'sfamily who left Russia after1917,and theepiloguetellsmovingly ofhisviewofDashkova's legacyas a preciouslinkto his family's pre-revolutionary heritage, a world destroyed forever bytheSoviets.Thisbackground mayexplainwhythebook itself at timesseemsto emergeout of a dialoguewiththe older Russian intelligentsia morethanwitha readily identifiable modernAnglophone audience .Who,indeed,is theimpliedreader?Dashkova is nota 'popular'history, foritpresupposes a priorknowledge abouteighteenth-century Russiathatfew English-speaking generalreaderswillpossess,butneither does itmakemany concessionsto present-day academic scholarship. For example,thereare lengthy discussions ofthetheatre and ofcourtritual, yetthenamesofRichard Wortmanand EliseKimerling Wirtschafter do notevenappearin thebibliography . There is muchhereabout lifeon country estatesand Dashkova's roleas a landlord, yettheideas ofPriscilla Rooseveltand MichelleMarrese are neverdiscussed,any more than those classic authorson enlightened absolutism, Marc Raeffand Isabel de Madariaga (althoughall fourdo appearin thebibliography). IuriiLotman'sviewson theatricality and David Ransel's on factional politicsare citedoccasionally, and genderanalysisis a persistent theme,but none of theseare embeddedin a discussion of the widerhistoriography. Instead,itis Russianwriters oftheimperial era - Herzen,Dobroliubov, Sukhomlinov, Kliuchevskii- whose commentaries provide contextfor Woronzoff-DashkofTs own analysis.The book's questions, assumptions and even vocabularypay homageto thatsame Russianintelligentsia tradition, e.g.,in thestraightforward equationof'Enlightenment' withan outlookthat is 'progressive', thereflections on Dashkova'smoralcharacter, and theconfidence in the sheeraccumulation of factualdetailas the path to historical knowledge. The book is impressively researched(withdocumentation from archives infourcountries) and engagingly written, making ita goodreadand probably thedefinitive English-language accountofDashkova'slife.However, itis little touchedbypresent-day historiographical concerns, so a study that willconnect Dashkova'sstory tothewiderfield ofmoderneighteenth-century studies remains to be written. Department ofHistory University ofNotre Dame Alexander M. Martin ...