Provincial Russia in the Age of Enlightenment: The Memoir of a Priest's Son, Dmitrii Ivanovich Rostislavov by Alexander M. s> Martin Dmitrii Ivanovich Rostislavov (review)

Abstract

562 SEER, 8i, 3, 2003 applied;where not an individual'smother-tongue would be declared irrelevant , and the issue of nationality would be decided by the (supposedly)more scientificmeans of anthropology. Double standardswere rife. The germanization experienced in regions such as Posnania was condemned as a heinous crime, yet the polonization of the Lithuanian and Byelorussian elites was viewed as part of a civilizing mission. Furthermore,just as Polish nationalists viewed the Kulturkampf and germanization campaigns as new and dangerous phases in the Drang nach Osten, they, in turn, advocated polonizing the regained 'Western provinces' and spoke freely about 'dominating and assimilating'other nationalities (p. I88). The argument of 'historicterritory' was often based upon a very skewed reading of history. Silesia, for example, could be claimed as an integral part of the medieval Piast kingdom, but this ignored the fact thatit was thoroughlygermanized and had left Polishcontrol in I335, spending the intervening centuries under 'foreign' rule. It was not unlikenineteenth-centuryBritonslodging a claim to Anjou. Though one can readilysympathizewith the plight of Polishnationalistsof the nineteenth century, it is hard to escape the conclusion that, on the territorial issue at least, they wanted it all ways. Some of their assertions verged on the absurd. One publicistwrote of the 'centurieslong sleep of the Polish Silesians' (p. 348). The implication being that once kissed by the attentions of Warsawnationalists, the latter would awaken and realize their long-forgotten love for the Polish nation. The reality, in contrast to this romantic (and simplistic)ideal, was that many Polish Silesianspreferredthe 'devil they knew' and opted to remain in Germany. Indeed, such attitudes often persistedthroughthe borderplebiscitesof the I920S. Gehrke sees one explanation for the nationalist position in a Polish 'inferioritycomplex' towardsits western neighbour. That may well be. But it fails to incorporate the factor of simultaneous Polish high-handedness and insensitivity towards its eastern neighbours. Perhaps a more convincing analogy, therefore, would be a series of 'nesting Orientalisms', with each viewing its eastern neighbour as inferior and ripe for 'civilization' whilst viewing its western neighbour with a mixture of envy, hatred and fear. This typology goes some way to explaining the peculiarly schizophrenic positions adoptedby Poland'sbrilliantbut flawednationalistsof the nineteenth century. Though the concluding discussionis a little insubstantial,Gehrkenonetheless succeeds in presentingan admirablythorough surveyof the development of Polishterritorialclaims through the nineteenth century.At each stage, the widercontext is outlined, includingthe influenceof grandpolitics, cultureand the changes in attitudetowardsGermany. lTniversity ofStrathclyde ROGER MOORHOUSE Martin,AlexanderM. (trans.anded.). Provincial Russiainthe AgeofEnlightenment. 7The Memoir of a Priest'sSon,DmitriiIvanovich Rostislavov. Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, IL, 2002. xliii + 236 pp. Maps. Tables. Illustrations.Notes. Bibliography.Index. $42.00; $22.00. THE extensive memoirs of Dmitrii Ivanovich Rostislavov (I809-I877) appeared in Russkaia Starina between i88o and I895. Rostislavov, child of a REVIEWS 563 dynasty of Russian village clerics near Riazan', survived education in the seminary system to become professor of physics and mathematics at the St PetersburgEcclesiasticalAcademy. In Martin's extremely sympathetic presentation , Rostislavov was 'a characteristicproduct of an eite ecclesiastical education, [ ...] fluent in French, German and English in addition to Greek, Latin, and Old Church Slavonic. He was well read, but in contrastto many upper-classliteratihe was grounded in Russian folk and clericaltraditionsas well as in the classicsand in modern European and noble culture. Analytical and inquisitive, he displayed at the same time a strongly ascetic, moralistic streak,a distrustof vanity and elegance, and a determinationto unmaskevildoers (but also confess past sins of his own) that reflect the deeply religious character of a clerical upbringing .[. . .]' (p. xxix). He probably started his memoirs in the i 86os, at a time when he was also producing writingsdeeply criticalof the black clergy and the institutionalchurch in general, so that his approach to his own milieu fitsin with that of Belliustin,Pomialovskiiand the mid-centurymovement towardreform.ForMartin,however, and forthe nonspecialistreaderatwhom thistext is aimed, the main interestof thesememoirs is more broadly social-historical:Rostislavov evokes with great directnessthe world of his childhood, both his own life as member of a priest'sfamily in a rural village, and the wider world of forest, swamp, villagers, drunkards, robbers, and officialdom around him. In particular,although some relevant material has been edited out to leave room...