Section 1. Topic a) Volia The term Volia is perhaps best defined as a sense of personal liberty or will.

. It can be understood as an inward freedom to pursue the more spiritual and abstract elements of existence (dukhovnaia kul'tura) over more mundane and materialistic demands (Byt). This idea somewhat eluded to in Gogol's Dead Souls1, in which he writes that the Russian soul 'Craves to be lost in a whirl, to carouse without stint.' In the same paragraph Gogol gives us an excellent analogy for this rather abstract concept through his description of the Troika. Its construction is simple and rough, yet the carriage careers along with unbounded speed and freedom, its horses flying 'like a whirlwind.' Volia appears to to plant itself in the Russian psyche through the very land itself, in particular the sheer size of it. As an example, we need only look to popular folk song Song Of the Motherland2. Russia is said to be a 'spacious land,' one in which 'life can flow as freely, broadly, as the Volga brimming and unchecked.' It is unsurprising therefore, and perhaps somewhat revealing, that the Russian word for self growth, prostor, should be roughly translatable as 'expanse.' It is important to distinguish between the concepts of volia and svoboda, the idea of political liberty as opposed to what we have established as a more spiritual liberty. It would be incorrect to assume that one necessitates the other or that they are causally linked. Berdyaev illustrates this when speaking of the 19th century intellectual achievements of the Russian nation. 'It [Russia] did this in the very oppressive atmosphere that accompanies the absence of freedom. I am speaking of outward freedom, for the inward freedom which existed among us was great.'3 To clarify this distinction further, consider that in her Nakaz Catherine writes that 'Liberty is the right of doing whatsoever the law allows.'4 When we
1 2 3 4 Gogol, Nikolai. Excerpt from Dead Souls (1842). Adapted from 25-26 in Treasury of Russian Life and Humour, ed. John Cournos. New York: Coward-McCann, 1943 Dunaevsky, Isaac & Lebedev-Kumach, Vasily. Song of the Motherland. Pgs. 271-272, Mass Culture in Soviet Russia: Tales, Poems, Songs and Folklore. Von Geldern, James & Stites, Richard. Indiana University Press, 1995. Berdyaev, Nicolas. Definition of the Russian National Type, in The Russian Idea. Beacon Press, 1962. The Nakaz of Catherine the Great. Chapter V, articles 36-39.

consider that the likes of Pushkin, Likhachov, and Solzhenitsyn were all at some point censored or their works repressed by the state, the difference between the two terms becomes apparent.

Section 2. Images C1. & C2. The two images supplied are both of Catherine the great one in which she is depicted as the classical Goddess of justice and one in which she is wearing a traditional Russian Kokoshnik. A Kokoshnik is a traditional Russian headdress, the word deriving from the old Slavic word Kokosh (Hen), and having been worn in Russia since pre Petrine times. The pictures are significant as they highlight the dramatic differences between the old Russia of the 17th century and prior, and the new, more European Russia that emerged following the reign of Peter the Great. Catherine is in a manner of speaking the ideal figure to discuss in relation to this topic. She was the quintessential post Petrine Russian monarch, believing firmly in the country's European status. She was natively a German, having attained the throne by deposing her husband Peter III. She saw herself as an enlightened despot, acting as a patron of the arts, communicating regularly with European enlightenment figures such as Voltaire, and establishing the Smolny Institute for the higher education of noble women. She established the Hermitage, and was known to write for hours each day. Under her Russia began to take a more active role in European politics, greatly expanding its territory in the west and acting as mediator between Prussia and Austria during the War of the Bavarian Succession. Her Nakaz borrowed heavily from Montesquieu's earlier work, Spirit of The Laws, and in it she boldly stated how Russia was a European country. Since the time of Peter the Great the vision of Russia as European had essentially become the norm. French had become the chief language of the nobility, a class which

Hosking argues had not existed as a single estate beforehand. Russian was relegated to 'communication with servants, serfs, and very young children.' This new class immersed themselves in the culture of the west and adapted much of what they saw for Russia. Prominent poet and statesman Gavriil Derzhavin wrote odes in the classical style, yet founded the literary society 'Lovers of the Russian Word.' Classicalism spread throughout Russia much as it did through the rest of Europe during the enlightenment. The Levitskii portrait of Catherine demonstrates that, as do the Summer Gardens of St. Petersburg and countless other examples. Thinkers and statesmen of the calibre of Lomonosov and Ekaternia Dashkova emerged into what appeared to be a very European looking Russian. This was far from the full story however. The peasantry, who would later become seen as 'the authentic embodiment of the nation' were less than happy about the governance of the country. Living conditions within the serf class worsened as landlords became more brutal and demanding. This dissatisfaction eventually culminated in the Pugachev Rebellion of the 1770's, in which thousands of serfs, cossacks and old believers rose up against the state. What is notable is how non European these rebels appeared in comparison to the nobility, as exemplified by Vasily Perov's Pugachev's Judgement. Whatever of the nobility, within the lower classes of the Russian people one could not say that there was a distinctly European appearance. Following the Great War of 1812 with France, the leanings toward the west within the nobility lessened. Sergey Uvarov's triad of nationality, Orthodoxy, Autocracy & Narodnost, was adopted by Nicholas I as a Russian response to the ideals of the French revolution. By the 1830's the Slavophile movement had come into being, with notable figures such as Kireevski and Khomyakov denouncing the reforms of Catherine and Peter. The Decemberist Revolt of 1925, albeit predicated on Nicholas I's assumption of the throne, saw more of the nobility cast aside their European identity. It would appear that despite Catherine's declaration in her Nakaz, Russia's status within Europe was less clear

cut than she had imagined.

Section III Essay a) Continuity vs. Change. Russian history has often been punctured with periods of great upheaval and change. As often as not, these periods have lead to radical new attitudes towards law, types of governance, or religious beliefs taking the place of those in place beforehand. In such a climate it may be argued that it would be difficult to built up any cultural continuity or identity, perhaps lending credence to Chaadaev's remarks in his Letters on the Philosophy of History that Russia is devoid of history and is still in the stage chaotic fermentation in the moral sphere. However, it is my belief that despite these upheavals there are significant themes that pervade Russian history and culture, surviving these cataclysmic changes and reappearing, if not immediately then at some later point. I shall make special reference to the Christianisation of Russia, the changes instituted by Peter the Great, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. In their essay Binary Models in the Dynamics Of Russian Culture, Uspenskii and Lotman outline a theory in which due to the lack of purgatory within the Russian Orthodox faith in contrast with the medieval Catholic west, Russian culture essentially existed in a state of two polar extremes with no middle ground, meaning that significant change could only be achieved through radical upheaval. Following this upheaval prior customs could be repressed or forgotten and would only manifest themselves discretely following the event. The essential logic is that as there is no moral middle ground between heaven and hell, and therefore right and wrong, if a new system of doing things comes into place then the old method is immediately rendered incorrect. While this theory has its flaws, it does give us a working model in which to examine certain significant events in Russian history and their consequences.

Taking first the Christianisation of Russia as an example we can test how this tehory performs. In 988 Tsar Vladimir accepted the Byzantine faith and began the process of making Russia Christian. The old gods such as Perun and Mokosh were discarded, with a striking example being the destruction of the temple of Perun at Podol and the building of a church to St. Basil on the site. Chrisianity spread quicky across Russia, as is evidenced by the completion of the Cathedral of Saint Dmitrii at Vladimir in the 12th century. Despite the rapid acceptance of the new faith however, there remained traits of the pagan religions, in particular references to the Mother figure, Mokosh. In the Russian Orthodox faith Mary, taking on this similar role, has far more significance than in the western churches. As well as this we see throughout Russian icons from the middle ages that Mary takes the uniquely Russian Orans Pose, a pose which can be observed in other Russian designs, including what would appear to be a Mother Earth figure in a 19th century headdress. This lends credence to the idea that there is a certain amount of discrete continuity within Russian culture. To further emphasise this we can also look at the modernization efforts of Peter the Great and their after effects. Following his grand embassy of 1698 Peter instituted a large number of changes within Russia, in an effort to bring the supposedly backward nation into line with the rest of Europe. He established the table of ranks, forbade the wearing of beards by his nobles and changed court attire to a more European style, amongst many other things. However, as has been alluded to in the previous question, Russia remained far from a definite European state. By the 1820's the idea of Russia being separate from Europe was once again recognised by the Monarchy, as shown by Nicholas I's adoption of Uvarov's triad, and Alexander III even removed the stigma of growing a beard. By the reign of Nicholas II there were even suggestions of reintroducing traditional Pre-Petrine Russian court clothing, although these apparently amounted to nothing. As a final examination of this idea of upheaval and discrete continuity we can look

at the emergence and fall of the Soviet Union and the destruction of the Church of Christ the Saviour in 1931. Fitting the pattern rather well, and invoking thoughts of the temple of Perun a century before, the Soviets had planned to build on the site a great Palace of the Soviets, featuring a 100m high statue of Lenin, however due to poor planning, budget problems and the second world war this never came to fruition. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990's, the church was eventually rebuild on the same site in 1996, highlighting both the reactionary element of Russian culture and indeed the discrete continuity, as despite the official state policy of Atheism that had prevailed during the Soviet period, the Russian people had evidently retained their faith. In summation, Russian culture does indeed have incidents of great change and upheaval. However, there are notable and distinct signs of continuity and consistancy despite this, be it anything from the new Iconist movement of the early 20th century or the important role of Mary in the orthodox faith.