The Common Reader in Public Readings with Magic Lantern Slides in Late Imperial Russia

Abstract

This article investigates public readings in late Imperial Russia, which became both an official and popular educational practice following the establishment of the Standing Commission of Public Readings by the State Ministry of Public Enlightenment in 1872. Public readings, done by an authorized person who would read aloud useful and entertaining texts in front of an audience, represent a significant democratization of the practice of reading. The content of such readings, both textual and visual, was heavily controlled by the state authorities which inevitably led to the shaping of a very specific addressee, the so-called common reader, whose official image was supposed to reflect the ordinary citizen, and is emblematic of the complex problem of nation-building in Russian history. The study enquires how the visual context of public readings contributed to the general image of the common reader. The article examines the representation of the common reader in the media of the time, the limitations imposed by the censorship and strategic choices of images for the magic lantern slides to illustrate the public readings. It provides a deeper perspective on the figure of the common reader, which became an ideological construct of importance for both domestic and foreign policy.