Empire, Enlightenment, and Autobiography in Catherinian Russia

The Kruzhok-REEES Reading Group presents Alexander Martin, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, on "Empire, Enlightenment, and Autobiography in Catherinian Russia"

In this talk on a work in progress, Alexander Martin will discuss his edited translation of My Time, the autobiography of the Russophone Ukrainian nobleman Grigory Vinsky (1752-1818). My Time describes Vinsky’s childhood in the Cossack Hetmanate, his failed attempt to make a life for himself in St. Petersburg, his arrest by the secret police, and his banishment to Bashkiria. My Time is at once an intimate account of one individual’s life, a panorama of the Russian Empire, and a reflection on the Enlightenment and the reign of Catherine II. The talk will explore three questions: What do we learn from My Time about Vinsky himself and his era? How does the act of translating change our understanding of a text and its author? Finally, what does the posthumous history of the book, which exists in multiple handwritten copies and censored Russian printed editions, tell us about manuscripts, censorship, and the trustworthiness of published primary sources?

Bio: Alexander M. Martin works on Russian history from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. He is the author of three monographs: Romantics, Reformers, Reactionaries, on the origins of Russian conservatism (1997); Enlightened Metropolis, a history of Moscow (2013); and From the Holy Roman Empire to the Land of the Tsars, a Russian-German microhistory (2022). He has also translated and edited a Russian autobiography: Provincial Russia in the Age of Enlightenment, by Dmitrii Rostislavov (2002). He is a professor in the History Department at the University of Notre Dame.

Open to the Public, all are welcome