1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996328043303316

Autore

Usitalo Steven

Titolo

The invention of Mikhail Lomonosov : a Russian national myth / / Steven A. Usitalo

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Boston, MA, : Academic Studies Press, 2013

Brighton, Massachusetts : , : Academic Studies Press, , 2013

©2013

ISBN

1-61811-672-X

1-61811-195-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (240 p.)

Collana

Imperial encounters in Russian history

Disciplina

509.2

Soggetti

Authors, Russian - 18th century

Enlightenment - Russia

Russia Civilization 18th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Honor and Status in Lomonosov's "Autobiography" -- Chapter 2. Russia's "Own Platos and Quick-Witted Newtons": Inventing the Scientist -- Chapter 3. Lomonosov in the Age of Pushkin -- Chapter 4. Commemorating Russia's "First Scientist" -- Chapter 5. Boris Menshutkin and the "Rediscovery" of Lomonosov -- Epilogue. Afterlife of the Myth -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This study explores the evolution of Lomonosov's imposing stature in Russian thought from the middle of the eighteenth century to the closing years of the Soviet period. It reveals much about the intersection in Russian culture of attitudes towards the meaning and significance of science, as well as about the rise of a Russian national identity, of which Lomonosov became an outstanding symbol. Idealized depictions of Lomonosov were employed by Russian scientists, historians, and poets, among others, in efforts to affirm to their countrymen and to the state the pragmatic advantages of science to a modernizing nation. In setting forth this assumption, Usitalo notes that no sharply drawn division can be upheld between the utilization of the



myth of Lomonosov during the Soviet period of Russian history and that which characterized earlier views. The main elements that formed the mythology were laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Soviet scholars simply added more exaggerated layers to existing representations.