Feriatus

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

It is impossible to overestimate the pleasure that can be derived from an engaging and well written work of history. Massie’s new biography of Catherine the Great delivers in so many ways, it would almost take a book to describe. Massie expertly tells the story of the provincial princess plucked from obscurity to become the wife of Grand Duke Peter, the cretin who was to become Peter III (lasting six months until Catherine disposed of him). The biography abounds with lively portraits of all the key figures of her court, as well as the leading lights of the French Enlightenment who became her pen pals. Of her relationship with Voltaire, Massie writes,  “The relationship between an ambitious, politically powerful woman and the most celebrated writer of the age became one of mutual benefit. Both were mindful that they were playing before an immense, influential audience. Catherine recognized that a letter to Voltaire, which could be passed along to his friends, was potentially a message to the intelligentsia of Europe. For Voltaire, what could be more flattering than to have another ruling sovereign become his royal disciple? He addressed her as “the Semiramis of the North,” “Saint Catherine,” and “Our Lady of St. Petersburg.” In return, she showered him with sable pelisses and jeweled snuffboxes, and sent diamonds to Madame Denis. But it was a relationship that thrived on distance; despite the intimacy of their correspondence, the empress and the patriarch never met. Massie also tells the story of Catherine’s patronage of Denis Diderot: “Then, when Madame Diderot was forty-three, a fourth child was born, a daughter, Marie Angélique. Diderot idolized this little girl and treasured the time he spent with her. He knew that he must provide for her dowry. But he had no money; everything had gone into the Encyclopedia. He decided to sell his only valuable possession, his library. Catherine heard about his decision from Diderot’s friend, her ambassador to France and Holland, Prince Dmitry Golitsyn. Diderot had asked fifteen thousand pounds for his books. Catherine offered sixteen thousand but attached a condition: the books should remain in Diderot’s possession for his lifetime. “It would be cruel to separate a scholar from his books,” she explained. Diderot thus became—without either he or his books leaving Paris—Catherine’s librarian. For this service, she paid him a salary of a thousand pounds a year. The following year, when the salary was forgotten and went unpaid, an embarrassed Catherine sent Diderot fifty thousand pounds—to cover fifty years in advance, she said.” Massie also covers Catherine’s many amorous liasons with a completely un-titilating matter of factness. Catherine’s former lovers were dipatched with no sentimentality:  “Catherine had made up her mind. It would be useful to have a man who loved her on the Polish throne, and it was even more convenient that this man was poor and that the Polish crown paid only a pittance. This would ensure that he would always need money and be dependent on her. Stanislaus, although wearing the robes of a king, would become a pawn on the Polish chessboard. The most powerful piece on the board would be a queen—in this case, an empress. Given her former lover’s submissive character and disinterest in the bruising business of royal politics, Catherine was certain that it would be only a matter of time before Poland fell completely under Russian influence” Catherine accomplished much: “Peter made Russia a great power; Catherine magnified this power, and advanced the nation toward a  culture that, during the century that followed, produced, among others, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekov, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Petipa, and Diaghilev. These artists and their work were a part of Catherine’s legacy to Russia.” Massie’s biography brings this monarch and her age brilliantly to life, and is an enormous pleasure to read. 


It is impossible to overestimate the pleasure that can be derived from an engaging and well written work of history. Massie’s new biography of Catherine the Great delivers in so many ways, it would almost take a book to describe. Massie expertly tells the story of the provincial princess plucked from obscurity to become the wife of Grand Duke Peter, the cretin who was to become Peter III (lasting six months until Catherine disposed of him). The biography abounds with lively portraits of all the key figures of her court, as well as the leading lights of the French Enlightenment who became her pen pals. Of her relationship with Voltaire, Massie writes, 

“The relationship between an ambitious, politically powerful woman and the most celebrated writer of the age became one of mutual benefit. Both were mindful that they were playing before an immense, influential audience. Catherine recognized that a letter to Voltaire, which could be passed along to his friends, was potentially a message to the intelligentsia of Europe. For Voltaire, what could be more flattering than to have another ruling sovereign become his royal disciple? He addressed her as “the Semiramis of the North,” “Saint Catherine,” and “Our Lady of St. Petersburg.” In return, she showered him with sable pelisses and jeweled snuffboxes, and sent diamonds to Madame Denis. But it was a relationship that thrived on distance; despite the intimacy of their correspondence, the empress and the patriarch never met.

Massie also tells the story of Catherine’s patronage of Denis Diderot:

“Then, when Madame Diderot was forty-three, a fourth child was born, a daughter, Marie Angélique. Diderot idolized this little girl and treasured the time he spent with her. He knew that he must provide for her dowry. But he had no money; everything had gone into the Encyclopedia. He decided to sell his only valuable possession, his library. Catherine heard about his decision from Diderot’s friend, her ambassador to France and Holland, Prince Dmitry Golitsyn. Diderot had asked fifteen thousand pounds for his books. Catherine offered sixteen thousand but attached a condition: the books should remain in Diderot’s possession for his lifetime. “It would be cruel to separate a scholar from his books,” she explained. Diderot thus became—without either he or his books leaving Paris—Catherine’s librarian. For this service, she paid him a salary of a thousand pounds a year. The following year, when the salary was forgotten and went unpaid, an embarrassed Catherine sent Diderot fifty thousand pounds—to cover fifty years in advance, she said.”

Massie also covers Catherine’s many amorous liasons with a completely un-titilating matter of factness. Catherine’s former lovers were dipatched with no sentimentality: 

“Catherine had made up her mind. It would be useful to have a man who loved her on the Polish throne, and it was even more convenient that this man was poor and that the Polish crown paid only a pittance. This would ensure that he would always need money and be dependent on her. Stanislaus, although wearing the robes of a king, would become a pawn on the Polish chessboard. The most powerful piece on the board would be a queen—in this case, an empress. Given her former lover’s submissive character and disinterest in the bruising business of royal politics, Catherine was certain that it would be only a matter of time before Poland fell completely under Russian influence”

Catherine accomplished much: “Peter made Russia a great power; Catherine magnified this power, and advanced the nation toward a  culture that, during the century that followed, produced, among others, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekov, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Petipa, and Diaghilev. These artists and their work were a part of Catherine’s legacy to Russia.” Massie’s biography brings this monarch and her age brilliantly to life, and is an enormous pleasure to read. 

6 months ago

  1. aubade said: This is on my to read list. I’m excited!
  2. mfox04 posted this

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