This is an original scholarly monograph about the life and work of the Russian composer and critic Alexander Serov (1820-1871), studied through the lens of his understanding of modernity as it developed in Russia in the mid nineteenth century. This research monograph is first full-length biography of Alexander Serov in English utilizing original records and archive sand the first in any language since 1985.

This research monograph is the result of many years of archival investigation in Russia, France and elsewhere into the nature of Catherine the Great’s involvement with the French Enlightenment. Professor Gorbatov’s conclusions go far beyond the consensus of philosophic and cultural interests masking an authoritarian and, at times, barbarous emerging European power and delves instead into Catherine’s fascination with French political and social ideals.

Professor Collie has studied and written about Sir Roderick Murchison in several monographs. This study deals with Murchison and the wider and more general activity of scientific travels in the mid 19th C. This work introduces the reader to the practices of intellectual and cultural exchange in Continental Europe. These exchanges, despite the political pressures that often mitigated against the free flow of ideas, were increased as steam power and telegraphs made there way from West to East and intrepid savants, such as the eminent geologist Muchison.

This monograph is a study of poetry as an alternative way of seeing the world and of obtaining insights into realities that enable the reader to see the vast otherness that usually eludes. The process of creativity is discussed. The influences of other disciplines on the heightening of consciousness are described as well as methodologies of observation that have been employed in the last 100 years are elucidated. Attention is paid to the specific contribution of modern Irish poetry especially in the role of the poet in society.