Prince Serebrenni
Prince Serebrenni is a historical novel by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, written in 1859–1861 and first published in The Russian Messenger magazine in 1862 where it was divided into parts I and II. Translated by Princess Galitzine for Chapmann & Hall, it came out in English in 1874.
Prince Serebrenni, a novel about 16th-century Russia, inspired by the works of Sir Walter Scott and the German Romantics, has become a popular young adult novel in Russia. Acknowledging its limits as a historical document, critics invariably praised the way it "imbued the readership with the ideas of justice, honesty, nobleness and human dignity."
Background
Aleksey Tolstoy had been for years intrigued by the theme which became the book's leitmotif: that of a struggle between Ivan the Terrible, the most cruel of all Russian monarchs, and boyarstvo, a community of high-ranked aristocrats who opposed the Tsar and his tyranny, largely carried out by the Oprichniki. Several of his poems and ballads, notably, Vasily Shibanov and Knyaz Mikhailo Repnin, were investigating this historical dilemma. The death of Nikolai I and the emergence of the new atmosphere of openness prompted Tolstoy to set upon working on the novel about the disaster the absolute monarchy might bring.History
Tolstoy started working on Prince Serebrenni in the late 1840s. Several sources reported that in the course of his Kaluga mission alongside senator Davydov, Tolstoy read the novel to Alexandra Smirnova-Rossette and Nikolai Gogol. It was there and then that Gogol told Tolstoy about a folk song "Master Panteley Walks About in the Yard" which has been promptly installed into the plot. According to N.Kolmakov, senator Davydov's senior aide, the novel by this time had been finished. If so, this could apply only to its very first, rough version.After that, apparently came a long break for there's been not a mention of the novel up until 1855. "I'd like to sit down and write Prince Serebrenny, but still cannot find it in me," Tolstoy complained in a letter to his wife on May 10, 1855. He mentioned it again in his December 13, 1856, letter. By this time the novel has been finished but the author was not pleased with the result.
Again a pause followed and the work resumed in 1859. In a February 4, 1859, letter to his friend and translator Boleslav Markevich Tolstoy wrote: "I've been working upon Serebrenny but failed to finish it, too restless my mind was." Also in 1859 he wrote to Mikhail Pogodin who was asking for a fragment to be included in the Utro anthology: "My novel still needs a clean-up and not even a fragment can be published in its present state. Thousands of small things prevented me from starting upon it." In a March 20, 1860 letter he informed Markevich that the novel was now virtually finished but the second part of it looked much stronger than the first one which needed to be improved.
Prince Serebrenni premiered at a recital party in the Palace in late December 1861. The readings which lasted several days were highly successful and brought the author a book-trinket from Empress consort Maria Aleksandrovna as a personal gift.
Synopsis
Knyaz Nikita Serebryanni is on his way to Moscow. In Medvedevka village his small armed unit of servants clashes with the oprichnik Khomyak’s gang. There and then the Prince learns that bloodshed and lawlessness here were inspired by Tsar Ioann's new policies, known as oprichnina. Another plotline involves Yelena Morozova, the wife of Medvedevka landlord whom the Prince helped out; she turns out to be his own loved one of the old times, who had to marry the old man in order to thwart another vile oprichnik, Vyazemsky, with his unwanted passes. Further on his way, Serebrenni helps out the outlaw named Persten and encounters the much feared Tsar himself. Appalled by Boris Godunov's cynicism and torn apart between his righteous hatred towards the Tsar with his corrupt oprichnicks, and his own oath of allegiance, Serebrenni, all kinds of adventures behind, chooses to go to war, to fight for his country, and die the death of a noble man.Reception
According to the Soviet scholar V.Kuleshov, one notable quality of Aleksey Tolstoy's novel is its artful and concise construction with an elaborate plot, masterfully built and developing dramatically, a host on intrigues intertwining. Each episode reads as a rounded-up piece, fitting neatly into the general scheme. It is this all-embracing net of logic that creates the feel of inevitability of things to come and makes one ponder on the fragility and illusory nature of man's life in a troubled world, argued the critic. Aleksey Tolstoy's weaknesses show when it comes to romantic scenes and when characters begin to act in a melodramatic fashion. He excels at dialogues where, according to Kuleshov, his gift of a dramatist becomes obvious.The novel was included into the 2013 list 100 Books for Schoolchildren recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science (Russia).