Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I
POLITICAL THEATER AND THE ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN TRAGIC DRAMA
Theater at Court
Sumarokov and the réformation du theater
Political Theater and the Poetics of Autocracy
“Scenarios of Power”: The Politics of Tragic Plots
Dramatic Experience: Tragedy and the Emotional Economy of the Court
PART II
KHOREV, OR THE TRAGEDY OF ORIGIN
Poetry, History, Allegory
Khorev and the Scenario of Marriage
Pastoral Politics and Tragedy
The Tragedy of Suspicion
PART III
POETIC JUSTICE: COUP D’ÉTAT, POLITICAL THEOLOGY, AND THE POLITICS OF SPECTACLE IN THE RUSSIAN HAMLET
Tragedy and Political Theology
The Drama of Coup d’état
Anatomy of Melancholy, or Gamlet the Hero
Investigations of Malice
The Catharsis of Pardon
EPILOGUE
THE THEATER OF WAR AND PEACE: THE “MIRACLE OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG” AND THE POETICS OF EUROPEAN ABSOLUTISM
Tragedy and Political Theology on the Battlefield
Frederick, or the Performance of Defeat
Peter, or the Tragedy of Triumph
Conclusion: Tragedy, History, and Theory
Bibliography