Top interesting fiction books about Peter the Great

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The reign of Peter 1 is full of events and reforms like no other. During this time, Russia has made an unprecedented breakthrough in its development, so powerful that it has not been and probably will not be in world history. Expert historians conducted a conditional experiment and approximately calculated that without the reign of Peter the Great, Russia would have achieved the same results that were realized by the end of the reign of this outstanding monarch, only by the end of the 19th century! Therefore, books about Peter 1 are especially interesting to study. It is doubly interesting if the book is not educational, but artistic, where you can plunge into the atmosphere of the beginning of the 18th century and go along with the heroes the difficult path of fateful events for the whole country.

We invite you to get acquainted with some fascinating works dedicated to various fields of activity of an outstanding person. Below is a list of books about Peter 1, which are unlikely to leave someoneindifferent.

"PETER THE FIRST". Alexei Tolstoy

Not a single rating of books about Peter the Great can do without this work. The novel was conceived as a detailed description of the entire life path of Great Peter, but, unfortunately, the author did not have time to finish his work. The classic historical novel covers only the first half of the reign, but, perhaps, the most turbulent and turning points in the history of Russia in the late 17th - early 18th centuries.

The novel is included in the list of the best historical works, was awarded the Stalin Prize and, in general, was highly appreciated by the Leader of the Peoples and all socialist authorities. It was created by government order. That, however, does not prevent him from being historically accurate. Of course, the figure of Peter is idealized, and all his reforms and political decisions are justified by the state benefit. But the modern reader, familiar with history, is quite capable of drawing his own conclusions and assessments. The novel is written in a simple, fascinating language, interestingly describes, in addition to the personality of Peter himself, his growing up and turning into the Great, the life and life of different classes of the population of that time. In short, a must-read classic.

"Young Russia". Yuri German

The two-volume novel, although not directly dedicated to the first Russian emperor, is still included in the list of books about the reforms of Peter 1. The work describes the great transformations and undertakings of the reformer: the construction of the Russian fleet, preparations for the Russian-Swedishwar, the foundation and construction of a fortress, and then the future capital - St. Petersburg. But the most valuable thing in the novel is the description of the characters and life of the simple Russian people. An uncompromising picture of those unimaginable trials and hardships through which our ancestors went through for the sake of embodying the grandiose plans of Great Peter opens before the reader. These ordinary people continued, in spite of everything, to love their country, the land on which their ancestors lived, were ready to give everything for it, and even their lives.

"Evenings with Peter the Great" by Daniil Granin

A book about Peter 1 from beginning to end, moreover, it is more about the man Peter, and not about the tsar, emperor, reformer, and so on. On the pages of the work, the reader discovers an ingenuous and direct person with his passions, weaknesses and numerous hobbies, not always decent. Readers note that the author managed to easily and naturally create a feeling of liveliness and reality of the described pictures, as if the reader really spends evenings with Peter the Great himself.

Dmitry Merezhkovsky. "Antichrist. Peter and Alexei”

This work is not only included in the list of books about Peter 1, but is also the third part of the trilogy "Christ and Antichrist" - a philosophical work on the Christian religion, based on great events and great personalities of world history. However, all three books are connected by an idea, but not by a narrative, so they are quite digestible separately.

BThe novel reveals the theme of the relationship between Peter the Great and his son Alexei. Behind the plot-forming conflict, the main problem is clearly visible: the reformer's clash with a general unwillingness to change. Tsar Peter personifies the new order of life, breaking the old Russian way of life with his radical reforms. The son, Alexei, is an adherent of the old habitual thinking and views on everything, including religion. What this dramatic encounter led to is what the novel tells about.

A lot of books have been written about Peter 1, both journalistic and biographical, as well as fiction. All of them are worth reading, if only because there has never been such a ruler in world history and, perhaps, never will be. The scale of his plans is grandiose even by today's standards. Willingness to realize what was conceived at all costs should become an example for all future generations.