Samovars and quills:the representation of bureaucracy in mid-nineteenth-century Russian literature

Russian literature of the nineteenth century provides a valuable insight into the character of Russian society during the period. The figure of the bureaucrat, and of bureaucracy more generally, looms large in works that appeared during Russia’s golden age of literature. The idea that Russian public life was distorted by a stifling lack of initiative and high levels of corruption amongst officials was a common theme in all forms of belles-lettres. This article examines a series of literary works by major authors—ranging from Gogol and Herzen to Turgenev and Tolstoi—and suggests that each of them had their own particular insight into the problem. For most leading writers, bureaucracy was more than simply a political and administrative phenomenon: it was also rooted in more far-reaching issues relating both to Russia’s distinctive history in particular and more universal philosophical problems in general

The Tatars of the Russian Federation and national-cultural autonomy: a contradiction in terms?

In this volume, some of the world’s leading scholars involved in researching the fields of ethnopolitics, nationalism and ideas of nation and state, have come together to produce a work that is both original and accessible. The volume explores the rich, but sadly neglected tradition of thought on non-territorial cultural autonomy as exemplified by the work of Karl Renner and Otto Bauer and the European Nationalities Congress of the 1920s. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and case study approaches, the authors challenge conventional thinking on how best to reconcile competing claims over territory and cultural expression. Drawing upon a range of examples from countries such as Russia, Romania and Hungary, and by comparing the situation of territorially-based ethnic minorities with those - principally the Roma - who lack identification with a given state or states, the authors of this volume seek to supply answers and question received truths. Book description from publisher website at: http://www.routledge.com/books/Cultural-Autonomy-in-Contemporary-Europe-isbn978041546456