Terror and Pity

Kirill Ospovatreceived his PhD from the Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU, Moscow, Russia) in 2005. He has held various postdoctoral appointments in Russia, Germany, the UK, and the US, most recently in the ERC-funded research group "Early modern drama and the cultural net" at the Freie Universitat Berlin.

Acknowledgments

Introduction



PART I

POLITICAL THEATER AND THE ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN TRAGIC DRAMA

Theater at Court

Sumarokov and the réformation du theater

Political Theater and the Poetics of Autocracy

“Scenarios of Power”: The Politics of Tragic Plots

Dramatic Experience: Tragedy and the Emotional Economy of the Court



PART II

KHOREV, OR THE TRAGEDY OF ORIGIN

Poetry, History, Allegory

Khorev and the Scenario of Marriage

Pastoral Politics and Tragedy

The Tragedy of Suspicion



PART III

POETIC JUSTICE: COUP D’ÉTAT, POLITICAL THEOLOGY, AND THE POLITICS OF SPECTACLE IN THE RUSSIAN HAMLET

Tragedy and Political Theology

The Drama of Coup d’état

Anatomy of Melancholy, or Gamlet the Hero

Investigations of Malice

The Catharsis of Pardon



EPILOGUE

THE THEATER OF WAR AND PEACE: THE “MIRACLE OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG” AND THE POETICS OF EUROPEAN ABSOLUTISM

Tragedy and Political Theology on the Battlefield

Frederick, or the Performance of Defeat

Peter, or the Tragedy of Triumph

Conclusion: Tragedy, History, and Theory



Bibliography