Springe direkt zu Inhalt

Dr. Kirill Ospovat

Institut / Einrichtungen:

Fachgebiet / Arbeitsbereich:

ERC-Projekt Early Modern European Drama and the Cultural Net (DramaNet)

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter

Aktuelle Funktionen und Aufgabenbereiche

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im ERC-Projekt Early Modern European Drama and the Cultural Net (DramaNet)

Vita

  • 2002, B.A. in Russian Literature, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
  • 2004, Research Fellowship of the Russian Ministry of Education
  • 2005, Ph.D. in Russian Literature, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, dissertation title: "The Literary Controvesy of Lomonosov and Sumarokov"
  • 2006-2007, Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Fall 2007, Assistant Professor, Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Saint-Petersburg State University
  • Fall 2007-Fall 2010, Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Studies on the Humanities,  Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
  • 2009-2010, Newton Fellowship, British Academy
  • January-June 2011, Mellon European Visiting Scholar, University of Chicago

Scenarios of Power: Tragedy and Court Theater in Early Modern Russia

 

My intended research will deal with neoclassical tragedy as a performative genre characteristic for early modern European court theater and inscribed into the overall system of courtly ritual. My starting point has been the oeuvre of Alexander Sumarokov (1717 – 1777), the first Russian neoclassical dramatist and the founder of Russian-language court theater, but my research will address general questions of social and cultural functioning of court theater, one of the crucial institutions of the pan-European absolutist “culture of power”.  A common culture of representation shared by courts and rulers across Europe resulted in a unified theatrical language, transferred by travelling companies and individual professionals, and eighteenth-century Russia was in this respect no exception. Placing the genre of neoclassical tragedy in this sociocultural framework, I will explore its role as a ritual of royal power. As Walter Benjamin has demonstrated, early modern tragedy re-enacted the fundamental notions of supreme power; drawing on this approach, I will show how neoclassical tragedies functioned as a performative medium whereby political and moral consensus was reaffirmed and re-negociated. 

 

  • “Mikhail Lomonosov Writes to his Patron: Professional Ethos, Literary Rhetoric and Social Ambition”, forthcoming in Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas.
  • “Iz istorii russkogo pridvornogo teatra 1740-h gg.” [An Episode from the History of the Russian Court Theater in the 1740s], Memento vivere: Sbornik pamiati L. N. Ivanovoi. S.-Petersburg, 2009. 

  • "Estetika Sumarokova: k sotsial'nym izmereniiam literaturnoi refleksii“ [Sumarokov’s Literary Aesthetics: The Social Dimensions of Literary Theory], A. Sumarokov. Ody torzhestvennyia. Elegii lubovnyia. Reprintnoe vosproizvedenie sbornikov 1774 goda. Moskva, 2009. Prilozhenie: Redaktsii i varianty, Dopolneniia. Kommentarii. 498-552.

  • “Tragediia Sumarokova Khorev: k semanticheskoi strukture pridvornoi dramaturgii” [Sumarokov’s Tragedy Khorev: On the Semantic Structure of Court Drama.] Russian Literature and the West. A Tribute for David M. Bethea. Stanford Slavic Studies. 35. Stanford, 2008. 13-40.

  • “Towards a Cultural History of the Court of Elizaveta Petrovna.” Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia Newsletter, 35, 2007.  36-46.

  • “O kontseptsii ody u Tynyanova: zametki k teme” [Tynyanov on the Ode],  Pushkinskie chteniia v Tartu 4: Pushkinskaja epokha: Problemy refleksii i kommentariia. Tartu, 2007. 408–419.

  • “Lomonosov i  Pis'mo o pol'ze stekla: poeziia i nauka pri dvore Elizavety Petrovny” [Lomonosov and his Epistle on the Usefulness of Glass: Poetry and Science at the Court of Elizaveta Petrovna], Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie.  87 (2007): 148-183.

  • “Poezija i patronazh: ob odnom poslanii Lomonosova” [Poetry and Patronage: On an Epistle by Lomonosov].  The Real Life of Pierre Delalande. Studies in Russian and Comparative Literature to Honor Alexander Dolinin. Stanford Slavic Studies. 33. Stanford, 2007. 13-37.

  • “Sumarokov–literator v sotsial'nom kontekste 1740 – nachala 1760-h gg.” [The Writer Sumarokov in the Social Context of the 1740s – 1760s].  Eighteenth-Century Russia: Society, Culture, Economy. Münster, 2007. 35-52.

  • “Aleksandr Sumarokov and the Social Status of Russian Literature in the 1750-1760s.” Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia Newsletter, 33, 2005. 24-30.

  • “Nekotorye konteksty  Utrennego… i  Vechernego razmyshleniia o bozhiem velichestve” [Some Contexts of Lomonosov’s ‘Morning...’ and ‘Evening Meditation on the Majesty of God]. Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia Newsletter, 32, 2004. 39-56.

  • “Sublime misanthrope: Lomonosov v 1760 --1761 g.” [Sublime misanthrope: Lomonosov in 1760 --1761]. Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 69 (2004): 144-178.

  • “Stikhotvorets i filosof: k osnovaniiam kul'turnoi reputatsii Lomonosova” [The Philosopher Poet: Lomonosov’s Cultural Reputation]. Jews and Slavs. 14. Moscow, Jerusalem, 2004. 61-76.

  • “K literaturnoi pozitsii Lomonosova” [On Lomonosov’s Literary Aesthetics]. Tynyanovskii sbornik. 11. Moscow, 2002. 13-29.

  • “Ob odicheskom diptikhe Pushkina:  Stansy i Druz'jam” (materialy k intertekstual'nomu kommentariiu) [Pushkins’ Two Odic Poems: Stansy and Druz'jam],  Pushkinskaia konferenciia v Stenforde. Moscow, 2001. 133-142.

     

     

  • "The Social Fashioning of an Intellectual in 18th-Century Russia: Towards a Biography of Mikhail Lomonosov”, Annual Meeting of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia, Hoddesdon (UK), January 2010
  • "Jean-Baptiste Rousseau dans les traductions russes de l’année 1760 : les relations franco-russes et la politique culturelle d’Ivan Chouvalov", ‘Elisabeth, impératrice de Russie (1709-1761), Entre la francophonie et la francophilie. Colloque du tricentenaire’, Paris (France), December 2009
  • "National Identity, International Politics and Cultural Patronage in 18th-Century Russia” (keynote lecture), Conference ’On Russianness’, University of Helsinki (Finland), December 2009
  • "Tragediia Sumarokova ‘Sinav i Truvor’: istoriia i politika na pridvornom teatre imperatritsy Elizavety” [Sumarokov’s Tragedy Sinav i Truvor: History and Politics at the Court Theater of the Empress Elizabeth], VIII International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia, Durham University (UK), July 2009.
  • “Kak byt’ pisatelem v pridvornom obschestve: Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Goratsii” [Being a Writer in Court Society: Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Horace], The 13th InternationalTynyanov Symposium, Rezekne (Latvia), August 2008.
  • “Zwischen Klassizismus und Futurismus: Jurij Tynjanovs Odenkonzeption.“ [Between Classicism and Futurism: Yuryi Tynyanov on the Ode], Abteilung für Ost-Mitteleuropa Studien, Universität Passau (Germany), June 2008.
  • "O neskol'kikh strofakh iz Lomonosova“ [On Three Sanzas in Lomonosov], The Lotman Conference, Tartu (Estonia), February 2008.
  • “Lingvistika i politika: Predislovie o pol'ze knig tserkovnyh Lomonosova i publitsistika Semiletnei vojny” [Linguistics and Politics: Lomonosov’s Preface on the Use of Church Books and the Political Debate of the Seven Years’ War],  The International Conference “Russia in Europe /Europe in Russia”, Helsinki (Finland), August 2007.
  • “Towards a Cultural History of the Court of Elizaveta Petrovna”, Annual Meeting of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia, Hoddesdon (UK), January 2007.
  • "Zur Kulturgeschichte des russischen Hofes zur Zeit von Kaiserin Elizaveta Petrovna“ [Towards a Cultural History of the Court of Elizaveta Petrovna], Forschungskolloquium der Abteilung für Geschichte Ost- und Südosteuropas, Historisches Seminar, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Germany), October 2006.
  • “O kontseptsii ody u Tynyanova: zametki k teme” [Tynyanov on the Ode],  Pushkin Conference, Tartu (Estonia), September 2006.
  • “Oda, vybrannaia iz Iova i Opyt o cheloveke: nravouchitel'naia poeziia v pridvornom krugu.“ [Lomonosov’s Ode Paraphrased from Job and Pope’s Essay on Man: Didactic Poetry in Court Society], The 12th International Tynyanov Symposium, Rezekne (Latvia), August 2006.
  • “Aleksandr Sumarokov and the Social Status of Russian Literature in the 1750-1760s”, Annual Meeting of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia, Hoddesdon (UK), January 2005.
  • “Nashikh stran Malerb: Lomonosov i problema literaturnoi evoliutsii” [The Malherbe of Our Lands: Lomonosov and the Question of Literary Evolution], VII International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia, Wittenberg (Germany), July 2004.