Peter the Great

This study will provide an examination of Peter the Great, a collection of critical essays edited and introduced by Marc Raeff (Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath, 1963; 109 pp). The subject of the book is the rulership of Peter the Great of Russia, who led the nation from 1682 to 1725, solidifying his power as time went along. The specific concern of the book is expressed in the sub-title: "Reformer or Revolutionary?" The nineteen essays, from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries, offer countering views on the question of whether Peter simply began to turn Russia into the modern era, or whether his leadership and impact at the time and later were a far more radical and even revolutionary matter. In that sense, then, it is a broad survey of varied viewpoints. However, the reader cannot read the book and come away with anything but a very deep sense of the influence which Peter had on the development of the nation of Russia, whether he was a reformer or a revolutionary or both.

Because the book presents viewpoints on the nature and impact of Peter's leadership from conflicting perspectives, it is clear that the style of the writing differs, from writer to writer, along with the opinions of each writer. Editor Raeff has been diligent in selecting works which not only offer contrasting views on Peter, but also offer them with enthusiasm and much power of persuasion. The reader who opens this collection of essays hoping and expecting to be led by the nose to

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Miliukov writes in this vein: "For us [Russians] Peter is not only a subject for historical research. He is part and parcel of contemporary Russian life . . . Peter casts his shadows on all activities of our every-day life . . . We buy a newspaper --- it was Peter who gave Russia its first daily" (p. 95). Saint-Simon, on the other hand, is not averse to run-on sentences which tax the concentration of the reader: "The Czar excited admiration by his extreme curiosity, always bearing upon his views of government, trade, instruction, police, and this curiosity embraced everything, disdained nothing in the smallest degree useful; it was marked and enlightened, esteeming only what merited to be esteemed, and exhibited in a clear light the intelligence, justness, ready appreciation of his mind" (p. 9). Prokopovich gives us a more flowery and eloquent style, which is to be expected, for his piece is the "Oration at the Funeral of Peter the Great": "What is this? O Russians, what have we lived to witness? What do we see? What are we doing? We are burying Peter the Great! Is it not a dream, an apparition? Alas, our sorrow is real, our misfortune certain" (p. 76). The range of viewpoints, of style, of political and philosophical

Category: Foreign - P