Paper long abstract:

The role of the Caucasus for Russian romanticism that developed in the 19th century has been crucial to the development of the genre. It has been especially important to the works of Alexander Pushkin, who has been regarded as the Father of Russian Literature. In my paper, I am discussing the role of the territory what constitutes modern Azerbaijan in one of Pushkin's later works "The Tale of The Golden Cockerel", where a character by the name of the Shamakhan Queen appears, who represents a region in modern Azerbaijan known to Russians for its silk since the 15th century. She plays an important role in shifting the narrative of the story. The Shamakhan Queen turns the "Russians" in the story from conquerors to the conquered in a reversal of Edward Said's Orientalism and Harsha Ram's prophetic topos.