The Ruler in the Garden

The Author: Andreas Schönle is Professor of Russian Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. His main research is in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Russian literature and culture, in modern literary and cultural theory, and in comparative literature.

Contents: Imperial Self-Cultivation: The View from Tsarskoe Selo - Garden of the Empire: Catherine II's Appropriation of the Crimea - Horticultural Theodicy: The Pragmatics of Wonder (A.T. Bolotov) - Oppositional Theme Park: The Inscription of Courtly Politics (A.B. Kurakin) - The Early Reception of the Picturesque and Karamzin's Invention of a National Landscape - The Landscape of the Russian Soul: The Embrace of Unpicturesque Uniformity - Laying Bare the Estate: Tolstoy's Moral Experiment - Blissful Living in a Garden and its Politics - Contemporary Gardening and the Rejection of the Public Sphere.

«Schönle has written a well-informed and highly discerning work which both complements and extends the previous scholarship on the characteristics of landscape design in Russia.» (Barry P. Scherr, Slavic and East European Journal)
«... invaluable for those who are looking for a deeper understanding of the meaning of design practice, or for an application of modern methodological approaches to the history of landscape architecture, or for a vision of landscape architecture as a part of social and political life of a country.» (Alla Vronskaya, Historic Gardens Review)
«This fascinating and magisterial monograph is rich in material and provides us with an up-to-date account of the meaning of Russian gardens and the Russian landscape from the imperial period to the contemporary era.» (Dmitry Shvidkovsky, The Russian Review)
«This book is a gem - and a felicitous choice for launching Andrew Kahn's new series.» (Gitta Hammarberg, Slavonic and East European Review)