Representations of Revolution and Revolutionaries in Early Twentieth Century Russian Literature

摘要

The representation of Revolution and revolutionaries develops as one of the main themes in Russian literary texts of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It would not be an overstatement to say that most active writers during this time referred to these themes in their works. These themes developed in consort with the historical and political developments occurring within the country. The literature of the twentieth century led to a culmination in the understanding of this complex topic. This thesis will present an analysis of several types of Revolutionary characters and their concepts of what Revolution is and should be. It will present an overview of Revolution's origin and development as a background of early twentieth century Russian literary works. The close reading of the selected twentieth century works will be discussed within the body of this thesis. In particular we will review Alexander Blok's poem The Twelve, Isaac Babel's collection of stories Red Cavalry, Vladimir Zazubrin's The Chip: A Story about a Chip and About Her, and Boris Savinkov's Pale Horse.