To hold the Russian banner aloft. Portrayals of Russian diplomats in K. Leontiev’s oeuvre

A substantial but barely explored body of writing by the novelist and philosopher K. Leontiev (1831–1891) was inspired by his nearly decade-long diplomatic service in the Ottoman Empire (1863–1872), a career he considered to be not unlike military service or a duel. Along with a miscellaneous collection of Turks, Greeks, southern Slavs, and Albanians, his cycle of ‘oriental novellas,’ and to an even greater extent the novels Odissey Polikhroniades and Egyptian Dove [Yegipetskiy golub], feature remarkable images of Russian and western diplomats. The article identifies their prototypes (such as Russian consuls M. Khitrovo and M. Zolotaryov), shows cross-references between the works, and examines incidences where a single character, such as consul Blagov in Odissey Polikhroniades, is drawn from several prototypes at once, including Leontiev himself. The study of this topic helps reveal Leontiev’s view of an ideal consul who holds the banner of his country aloft. One of the inspirations behind this ideal was N. Stupin, who succeeded in safeguarding the rights for fellow Christians as well as arranging for necessary rapprochement with the Ottoman regime.

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