Formalists against Imperialism

The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar and Russian Orientalism

By: Anna Aydinyan

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Hardcover | 22 July 2022

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Hardcover
240 Pages

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22.8 x 15.2 x 2.5

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In January 1829, an angry mob in Tehran murdered Russian poet and diplomat Alexander Griboedov, author of the verse comedy Woe from Wit and architect of the Russian annexation of the north Caucasus from Persia after the Russo-Persian War. A century later, the Russian formalist writer Yury Tynianov wrote a historical novel about the event entitled The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar.

In this wide-ranging study, Anna Aydinyan posits that The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar conceptualizes Orientalism fifty years before Edward Said coined the term. She argues that Tynianov parodied historical works on the Caucasus in his novel in order to critique the ways in which exoticizing the East enabled imperialism and colonization. Analysing literary and non-literary texts on Russia’s relationship with Iran, along with the economic and cultural development of Transcaucasia after the Russo-Persian War, Formalists against Imperialism studies Russian culture within the framework of comparative colonialisms and examines the twentieth-century Russian reconsideration of the country’s imperial past.

Industry Reviews

In this beautifully written study, which takes us in turn to the 1820s, the 1920s, and the present, Anna Aydinyan shows that Yury Tynianov's lessons have been sadly lost, not only to the Putin-era Russian state and official culture, eager as they are to reclaim past imperial glories, but also to postcolonial studies in the West, which remains unaware of its predecessors. Rich in historical context and exquisite in its close readings, Formalists against Imperialism is essential reading for a wide variety of audiences, within and without Russian literary studies.

- Rossen Djagalov, Assistant Professor of Russian, New York University

This book will ultimately change the conversation around political and cultural imperialism in the nineteenth century and will contribute important ideas and threads into discussions of literary theory and history as well. Anna Aydinyan recentres conversations around Yury Tynianov that have begun to gain ground in recent years and will also illuminate genre theory and postcolonial thinking.

- Angela Brintlinger, Professor of Russian Literature, Ohio State University

This richly documented foray into the Soviet anti-imperial archive probes the Formalist thinkers' spirited wrestling with Russia's imperial legacy. A revealing look at the ideological ferment of the 1920s, this timely study prompts a reflection on where Russia's imperial reckoning may have led, had it been allowed to flourish.

- Edyta M. Bojanowska, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, and author of A World of Empires: The Russian Voyage of the Frigate Pallada

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