The reforms initiated by Peter the Great transformed Russia not
only into a European power, but into a European culture--a shift,
argues James Cracraft, that was nothing less than revolutionary.
The author of seminal works on visual culture in the Petrine era,
Cracraft now turns his attention to the changes that occurred in
Russian verbal culture.
The forceful institutionalization of the tsar's reforms--the
establishment of a navy, modernization of the army, restructuring
of the government, introduction of new arts and sciences--had an
enormous impact on language. Cracraft details the transmission to
Russia of contemporary European naval, military, bureaucratic,
legal, scientific, and literary norms and their corresponding
lexical and other linguistic effects. This crucial first stage in
the development of a "modern" verbal culture in Russia saw the
translation and publication of a wholly unprecedented number of
textbooks and treatises; the establishment of new printing presses
and the introduction of a new alphabet; the compilation, for the
first time, of grammars and dictionaries of Russian; and the
initial standardization, in consequence, of the modern Russian
literary language. Peter's creation of the St. Petersburg Academy
of Sciences, the chief agency advancing these reforms, is also
highlighted.
In the conclusion to his masterwork, Cracraft deftly pulls
together the Petrine reforms in verbal and visual culture to
portray a revolution that would have dramatic consequences for
Russia, and for the world.
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