Khosrow Mirza: Historical figure and artistic image. On the cultural originality of Russian-Persian ties

Abstract

The image of Persian Prince Khosrow Mirza, who headed the Apology Delegation to Russia, entered the Russian artistic culture of the 19th and 20th centuries. His name was mentioned by Alexander Pushkin in A Journey to Arzrum, by Nikolai Gogol in the Petersburg stories The Nose and The Portrait. Yury Tynyanov in his novel The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar (1928) elaborated in detail characteristics of the Persian prince. In Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opera The Nose, a musical and dramatic picture was built around the image of Khosrow Mirza. Although this image is inextricably linked to the memory of the death of Alexander Griboyedov, it formed a special set of motifs “colored” by the prince’s individual and personal features. The consideration of Khosrow Mirza’s image in Gogol’s stories casts doubt on the hypothesis proposed by Natalia Seregina about the connection of this image with the satirical element of the comedy The Inspector General. The image of Khosrow Mirza turns out to be the generator of the formation of the Persian text of Gogol’s Petersburg Tales. The analysis of the draft versions of the story The Portrait allows us to argue that, at the very beginning, a special semantic node is formed, which involves the generals who participated in the wars with Turkey and Iran, and the Tehran ambassador. Thus, an orientation is created for the development of an oriental theme, which was subsequently realized in the image of the terrible portrait and the demonic lender. The study of the semantic layers associated with Khosrow Mirza makes it possible to discover the connections between the Persian images of Gogol and the adventure novel The Adventures of Haji Baba from Isfahan by James Justinian Morier. Pictures of Persian life appear in the images of the Isfahan hereditary barber and local beauties, in the motif of money, cut-off noses, a head baked in bread, and are reflected in the stories Nevsky Prospect, The Nose, The Portrait. Another perspective of analysis opens up when understanding the special mission of Khosrow Mirza, aimed at the dialogue of cultures. The prince’s desire is noted to present in Russia the works of the great Persian poets Saadi and Ferdowsi, to implement the rhetoric of dialogue in an apology to Griboyedov’s mother and in a speech addressed to the Russian emperor. The introduction to scholarly discourse of translations of the book Ruzname-ye Safari Petersbourg [The Travel Notes of Khosrow Mirza] by Mirza Mustafa Afshar provides an insight into the Persian perception of the journey to Russia. The episodes of the arrival of the Iranian embassy in the royal palace, the description of the Tauride Palace, the process of making lithographs are considered. The authors conclude that the Persian embassy in St. Petersburg in 1829, caused by the tragic events, nevertheless significantly contributed to the strengthening of Iran’s authority and the formation of its unique cultural image in the minds of the Russian public. Much credit for establishing the dialogical character of relations belongs to the head of the Persian mission, Prince Khosrow Mirza. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.