Master Theses
Margeti, Elisavet. Η εικόνα των Βαλκανίων στη Ρωσική Γραμματεία του 19ου Αιώνα: Οι Βούλγαροι στα Περιηγητικά Κείμενα των Βίκτορ Γκριγκορόβιτς και Πορφυρίου Ουσπένσκι / The Image of the Balkans in 19th Century Russian Literature: The Bulgarians in the Travelogues of Victor Grigorovich and Porphyrius Uspensky
The present thesis aims to investigate the perception of Balkan residents, with a particular focus on the Bulgarians living under Ottoman rule, in the Russian literature of the 19th century. Specifically, through the examination of travelogues written by two Russian explorers, Viktor Grigorovich and Porphyrius Uspensky, the study seeks to outline how the Bulgarians were perceived based on their Slavic heritage and Orthodox identity, against the backdrop of an emerging Pan-slavic sentiment during that period and of its interaction with the foreign policy of the Russian state, in the context of the dynamic and largely contradictory political landscape of the 19th century. Though these texts, which contributed in a recursive manner in shaping Russian consciousness, feelings of sympathy and solidarity towards the Slavic peoples are cultivated, resulting in an appeal for assistance by the Russian state in fostering and nurturing their Slavic consciousness and in resisting against the oppression imposed by both the Ottoman rule and the culturally expansionist co-religionist Greeks.
Supervisor: Andreas Lyberatos
Keywords: Russian Travelers, Ottoman Balkans, Travelogues, Panslavism, Bulgarians
Date: 2023
Publishing Institution: Panteion University, Department of Social and Political Sciences