Catherine II (Empress of Russia)

Presents the memoirs of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, who came to power after her husband was overthrown in a coup d'âetat and was viewed as an enlightened monarch.

The Memoirs of Catherine the Great

Perepiska rossīĭskoĭ imperatrit︠s︡y Ekateriny II i gospodina Volʹtera, prodolzhavshai︠a︡si︠a︡ s 1763 po 1778 goda

Sochinenīi͡a Imperatrit͡sy Ekateriny II.

произведнія литературныя

Сочинения

proizvedenīi︠a︡ literaturnyi︠a︡

Sochinenīi︠a︡ Imperatrit︠s︡y Ekateriny II

произведенія литературныя

Сочиненія Императрицы Екатерины II

Redak︠t︡si︠i︡a i prim︠i︡echani︠i︡a V.O. Soln︠y︡seva

Sochineni︠i︡a imperatris︠t︡sy Ekateriny II.

Полное собраніе сочиненій

Catherine Great

The Siberian shaman: Cast gender - mixed; number - 10 males, 5 females (total 15); size - large; length - 5 acts, 53 scenes. Satire on shamanism as a deceitful profession which preys on the gullible.

Oh, These Times! and The Siberian Shaman

Two Comedies by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia

Douglas Smith

Grigoriĭ Aleksandrovich Potemkin (kni͡azʹ)

Of all of history's great romances, few can compare with that of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin. Their turbulent and complicated relationship shocked their contemporaries and continues to intrigue observers of Russia centuries later. Lovers, companions, and, most likely, husband and wife, Catherine and Potemkin were also close political partners, and for a time Potemkin served as Catherine's de facto co-ruler of the Russian Empire. Their letters offer an intimate glimpse into the lovers' unguarded moments, revealing both ecstatic expressions of love and candid insights on eighteenth-century politics. In February 1774, the Russian empress took Grigory Potemkin for her lover and, it is now believed, secretly married him a few months later. Particularly in the first two years of their relationship, Catherine was consumed by her passion for Potemkin. The hundreds of letters and notes she dashed off to him between assignations in the Winter Palace during this time attest to the giddy exuberance of the new love that so fully embraced her. Love and Conquest contains the most historically significant and personally revealing of these letters, only a few of which have ever before been translated into English. Beginning with Potemkin's letter to Catherine written while off fighting the Turks in 1769 and concluding with his farewell note scribbled the day before his death in 1791, the correspondence spans most of Catherine's reign. The letters are at once personal and political, private and public. Many of Catherine's love letters to Potemkin written during their stormy affair reveal the empress's passionate personality. Potemkin's letters provide rare insight into his arrogant and mercurial character, while serving to dispel the myth of Potemkin as little more than a corrupt sycophant. Love and Conquest reveals the complexity of Catherine and Potemkin's personal relationship in light of dramatic changes in matters of state, foreign relations, and military engagements. After their love cooled, Catherine and Potemkin continued to discuss and debate a wide range of state affairs in their letters, including the annexation of the Crimea, court politics, wars against the Ottoman Empire and Sweden, and the colonization of southern Russia. Together they carried out the most dramatic territorial expansion in the history of imperial Russia, transforming Catherine into a powerful world leader and creating a bond of affection that would never fully fade. Readers will find in the letters new insights on Russia's most famous empress, her passions, and her world.

Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin

Love & Conquest

Aleksandr Herzen

Memoirs of the Empress Catherine II.

The Correspondence with Voltaire and the Instruction of 1767, in the English Text of 1768

Documents of Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great (1729-1796) wrote over two dozen plays and operettas, but not until this edition has a complete translation of any of them been available to an English- speaking readership. Oh, These Times (1772) is a satirical attack on many vices Catherine wished to root out from her society: religious hypocrisy, superstition and slander. The main character, Mrs. Pious, is a superficially religious old woman who resembles Moliere's Tartuffe. Catherine again sets her sights on superstition in The Siberian Shaman (1786), this time by satirizing shamanism as a deceitful profession which preys on the gullible. This play was part of a group of three plays usually known as Catherine's "anti-masonic" trilogy, written as a warning against the growing influence of the freemasons. In a comprehensive introduction, Lurana Donnels O'Malley relates the plays to Catherine's status and philosophy.

Catherine II (Empress of Russia)

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