Presentations by Streams

Kelsey Rubin-Detlev's recent monography, dedicated to the epistolary of Catherine II, well shows three approaches to letters - “as literary texts, as items that circulate as a part of a social practice, and as sites of self-fashioning.” The first of the planned communications is devoted precisely to correspondence as a social practice, which allows us to trace the friendship of an aristocrat who was part of the inner circle of Catherine II with a lower-ranking nobleman who advanced thanks to his support. It is much more difficult to characterize the correspondence between Catherine II and Field Marshal Münich - not intended for publication, it undoubtedly allowed one of the participants of this correspondence to create an image of themselves as an experienced and effective servant of the Empire. The correspondence dedicated to the preparation of the meeting between Catherine II and King Stanislaw II August is on the border between private and official correspondence and allows us to restore the closely intertwined networks of political elites of Russian Empire and Poland-Lithuania.
An important aspect of the correspondence is its connection with the transculturality of the Russian elites. Münnich und Catherine II – both natives of the northern German principalities - wrote to each other not in German, but in French, however, this French was deprived of the gloss and perfectionism that the Empress sought in correspondence with the Philosophers ( her letters for this correspondence were carefully corrected by a courtier, who spoke even better French). French was also the language of correspondence between Catherine II and her former favorite, who became the Polish king Stanislaw August II