The Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture 1 Russian Cultural History Introduction Borders and Crossings Borders constantly transgressed Vikings given political leadership Peter s westernization invasions by other peoples Origins Language and Religions Earliest definitions of Russian culture come from the monks and self definitions Byzantine legacy became critical element of Russian Orthodoxy but changed throughout the times due to influences Impermanence and flux of language French at one point was preferred over Russian for the aristocracy Belief in Gods realm of truth of truths Emphasis on ethics and morality Ideas of withdrawing from society to pursue self betterment and use that knowledge to better society wanting transcendence Ideological Structures Such want for transcendence leads to a desire of pushing the ideals too far ie Communism and what happened with it in Russia These want for ideals is revealed through the Russian arts and although the people writing them knew they would be impossible they still remained hopeful Idea of narod the people and doing things for the greater society although much abused serfdom Narodnost principle of Social Realism to create an easy form of communication with the people and propagate the governments wishes o leads to deintellectualization moving great cultural minds out of Russia during the communist era Silver Age and its Legacy despite the above many still attempted to push Russian culture forward their works serve as the crux of Russian culture late 1800s early 1900s ideas in this period were philosophically driven with religious traditions and its intellectual revival at their cores Challenges and Hopes moral codes of sacrifice and humility manipulated during Soviet era development of arts and culture manipulated during Soviet era to gain political control through entertainment using aesthetic language to grapple with social reality in an age of Internet and mindless images Russia possessed and continues to possess a rich diversity within its culture thanks to its developed traditions within its own borders and the crossings that influenced and expanded it