ENLIGHTENING THE LAND OF MIDNIGHT: PETER SLOVTSOV, IVAN KALASHNIKOV, AND THE SAGA OF RUSSIAN SIBERIA Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Mark A. Soderstrom Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Advisor Alice L. Conklin David L. Hoffmann Copyright by Mark A. Soderstrom 2011 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the lives, works, and careers of Peter Andreevich Slovtsov (1767-1843) and Ivan Timofeevich Kalashnikov (1797-1863). Known today largely for their roles as Siberian “firsts”—Slovtsov as Siberia‟s first native-born historian, Kalashnikov as Siberia‟s first native-born novelist—their names often appear in discussions of the origins of Siberian regionalism, a movement of the later nineteenth century that decried Siberia‟s “colonial” treatment by the tsarist state and called for greater autonomy for the region. Drawing on a wide range of archival materials— including two decades of correspondence between the two men—this study shows that Slovtsov and Kalashnikov, far from being disgruntled critics of the tsarist state, were its proud agents. They identified with their service careers, I suggest, because they believed that autocratic rule was the best system for Russia and because serving the tsarist state provided what they saw as their greatest opportunity to participate in a progressive, world-historical saga of enlightenment. Their understanding of this saga and its Russian reverberations gave form and content to their senses of self. An exploration of Slovtsov and Kalashnikov‟s complex lives through the long paper trail that makes them accessible today offers revealing perspectives on the social, cultural, and intellectual history of Russia—in particular on topics of service, selfhood, bureaucratic culture, education, and the intersection of public and private life—as well as ii on the history of Siberia and its place in the empire. Kalashnikov and Slovtsov lived during the apogee of the Russian Empire in the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, a period commonly described as a time of growing dissension between “the state” and “educated society.” But their lives offer a useful reminder that that “the state” and “educated society” were often one and the same. Slovtsov and Kalashnikov saw the tsarist state as a powerful agent of progressive change and argued passionately, both in their published works as well as in their private correspondence, in favor of an imperial narrative of enlightenment. They saw Siberia as a place made whole, improved, and, indeed, made “Russia” by imperial rule. iii For my parents, Dale and Milissa Soderstrom And my wife, Phuong Truong iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS What follows is a dissertation about, among other things, a quarter-century long friendship between a teacher and a student. During my own quarter-century as a student, I have had many extraordinary teachers. Unlike the teacher at the center of the story that this dissertation tells, however, not one of them has travelled 20,000 Siberian miles to enlighten students like me. I remain immeasurably indebted to them all the same, and it is with great pleasure that I thank them—and the friends, family, and organizations who have helped out along the way—here. My most immediate debt is to the members of my dissertation committee, both official and unofficial. Nicholas Breyfogle has been an unstinting advisor since I came to Ohio State six years ago. Both blagodetel‘ and nachal‘nik, he has provided needed advice, encouragement, freedom, inspiration, and a seemingly endless spring of good cheer (and reference letters). I have also benefited greatly from the support of the other members of my dissertation committee, Alice Conklin and David Hoffmann, as well as from numerous members of the Department of History—in particular Alan Beyerchen, Scott Levi, Geoffrey Parker, Christopher Reed, and Jennifer Siegel. I am similarly grateful to members of the Department of History staff who have done so much to make the dissertating life simpler: Joby Abernathy, Jim Bach, Steve Fink, Gail Summerhill, Jan Thompson, and Richard Ugland. v Had it not been for three truly outstanding mentors at Central Michigan University—Eric Johnson, Steve Scherer, and Jim Schmiechen—I might not have decided to study history as a graduate student. My debt to them is vast, and I do not blame them at all. I would also like to thank Gregory Crowe and Dave Smith, whose high-school English courses have proven to be the most useful time I ever spent in a classroom. Many historians of Russia have given of their time and advice since I began working on this project. I would especially like to thank the following: Jane Burbank, Mollie Cavender, James Cracraft, Ben Eklof, Julia Fein, Valerie Kivelson, Nathaniel Knight, Alexander Martin, Maya Peterson, David Rainbow, John Randolph, David Ransel, Christine Ruane, Susan Smith-Peter, and Roshanna Sylvester. I would also like to thank the participants of the Midwest Russian History Workshop for reading my work and offering helpful encouragement and suggestions. Without generous support from the following organizations, I could not have spent the necessary time in Russia to finish the archival research for this dissertation: the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and Ohio State University (its Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School, and Office of International Affairs in particular). I am deeply thankful for their assistance. Friends and colleagues at Ohio State and in Columbus did much to make the experience of graduate school a pleasant one. There are too many to list here, but I vi would like to highlight the following: Yigit Akin, Mike Alarid, Kristin Collins, David Dennis, Chris Elias, Kate Epstein, Leigh Fine, Edward Gutierrez, Katie and Yo Hattori, Kristin Hintz, John Johnson, Jonathan King, Glenn Kranking, Ian Lanzillotti, Dalton Little, George Lywood, Ryan McMahon, Craig Nelson, Greg Pellam, Anna Peterson, Robyn Rodriguez, Anne Sealey, Stephen Shapiro, Sarah Shippy, Mark Sokolsky, Luke Wochensky, Shijin Wu, and Matthew Yates. My trips to Russia were vastly more productive, enjoyable, and memorable than they might have been had I not had the good fortune to meet many wonderful people. I am most grateful to hosts and friends who welcomed me into their homes, fed me, sharpened my Russian skills, and encouraged me to keep at my research (however bizarre some of them thought it was): Nelli and Valentin Chernyshevoi, Kausariia Il‟iasova, Lidiia Khimenko, Natasha Shinkovoi, Iuliia Sobko, Nina and Tat‟iana Spizina, and Lana Sokol‟nika. Marina and V‟iacheslav Sofronov made my time in Tobol‟sk particularly special with their hospitality and vast knowledge of the city‟s history. Kirill Anisimov, Igor‟ Belich, Aleksandr Polunov, and Alexander Semyonov gave selflessly of their time in supporting my work, and Tat‟iana Tananikina helped to render a seemingly impossible visa situation free of any major catastrophes. I would also like to thank the staffs of GAIO, GAvgT, IRLI, NART, OR RNB, RGADA, RGIA, Irkutsk State University Library, Kazan‟ State University Library, Ohio State University Library, and the Tobol‟sk Museum of History and Architecture. Lialia Zaudatovna and Liliia Iusupovna at NART made my time in Kazan‟ especially productive and rewarding. Maya Peterson vii and Jennifer Siegel also deserve a thank-you for many entertaining lunches at the RGIA cafeteria. I owe the most to three people, and it is to them that I dedicate this dissertation. My parents, Dale and Milissa Soderstrom, have supported and encouraged me as long as I can remember, and there is nothing that, at least in some way, I do not owe to them. Thanks are not enough. And for the past decade I have been extraordinarily lucky to share my life with my wife, Phuong Truong. As much as I have tried to shield her from Peter Andreevich and Ivan Timofeevich‟s incursions, she has been forced to share many of these years with them—and with all else that my taking the Ph.D. pill has entailed. I can only hope that I have managed to give her half of what she has given me. viii VITA 2004..........................................................B.A. History, Central Michigan University 2005..........................................................M.A. History, Central Michigan University 2005-08, 2010 ..........................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University 2008-09 ....................................................Fellow, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program, Russia 2010-11 ....................................................Presidential Fellow, The Ohio State University Publications “Sibiriaki na sluzhbe imperii: Sluzhba i samoznanie (sluchai P.A. Slovtsova i I.T. Kalashnikova” [“Siberians in the Service of Empire: Service and Self in the Case of P.A Slovtsov and I.T. Kalashnikov”]. In Sibirskii tekst v national‘nom suzhetnom prostranstve [The Siberian Text in National Narrative Space], ed. K. V. Anisimov, 27-45. Krasnoiarsk: Sibirskii Federal‟nyi Universitet, 2010. Fields of Study Major Field: History Concentrations: Russia and the Soviet Union (primary) Premodern and Modern China Modern Europe ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ..............................................................................................................................