Nicholas in Hell: Rewriting the Tsarist Narrative in the Revolutionary Skazki of 1917
2001; Wiley; Volume: 60; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/0036-0341.00164
ISSN1467-9434
Autores Tópico(s)Soviet and Russian History
ResumoOnce upon a time, long ago, the rotten system crashed down, and our native Rus' became free. There was no tsar or tsaritsa (that foreign bird) or police or ministers. Russians lived like people, not beasts. But let us take a look at the fate of our former tsar. After stepping down from the throne and settling at Tsarskoe Selo to tend flowers and care for his cherished son Alexei, Nicholas has trouble feeling at ease. He digs in the garden and prunes his shrubs, but he's still restless and uncomfortable. Finally, he goes to the conservatory where Alexandra sits, very upset. He tries to comfort her, suggesting that they move far away from Russia—to Tunisia, perhaps—but his ideas for their new life together only make her angry. Nicholas trembles in fear under a table while she rants about their fate and mourns the loss of her Grisha [Rasputin], but finally her tantrum subsides, and he falls asleep, dreaming that he is flying to Heaven. When he reaches the gates of Heaven, an angel rudely informs him that no “tsar‐tyrants” are needed there—he should proceed directly to Hell. As he enters the doors of Hell, a crowd of phantoms confronts him, accusing him of committing crimes and of inflicting unbearable suffering on them in life, while Beelzebub commands that he be thrown into a cauldron of boiling tar. In response, Nicholas protests that he was just carrying on the Romanov tradition, and asks why he alone should be found guilty when his ancestors also committed terrible crimes against the people. Then he glimpses an enormous cauldron, where his ancestors sit, boiling in the thick tar. And he gets the feeling that he too will fly into the pot. Luckily, just at this moment Nicholas awakens from his horrifying dream.
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