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sity, allowed him to compare the reform pro-
spects in two different societies, Islamic and Rus-
sian, and contributed to his critical assessment of
Tatar needs. Merjani wrote over 20 works, all but
one of them in Arabic, the exception being his
history of the Volga Tatars, the first such attempt
in the modern Tatar language. His thinking was
grounded in his conviction that Islamic cultural
revival depended both on a return to original
Islam and on a turn away from the conservative
scholastic philosophy that had led Muslim sci-
ence and education to stagnate. Influenced by
the Russian and Tatar cultures that coexisted in
Kazan, Merjani also advocated learning Rus-
sian, for Russian science then offered the Tatars
the shortest bridge to reach the world of mod-
ern science.
Among those complaining about the tenor of
his productions was
LENIN
's wife,
KRUPSKAYA
,
who labeled his theater a “madhouse.” He col-
laborated with the poet
MAYAKOVSKY
in various
daring and modernistic productions but felt
increasingly alienated from the theater, especially
after Mayakovsky's suicide in 1930 and with the
growing conservatism and conformism of Soviet
cultural life. Meyerhold found it increasingly
hard to work during the 1930s as the cultural
authorities repeatedly criticized his work as “for-
malist.” Information about his final years has
remained scanty. He was arrested in 1939 and
sent to labor camps. For many years it was
believed he died in 1942, but scholars have
recently established that he was shot on Febru-
ary 2, 1940.
Meyerhold, Vsevolod Emilevich
(1874-1940)
actor and director
An innovative director, Meyerhold was one of
the giants of Russian experimental theater. Born
into a German-Jewish family near Penza, he con-
verted to Orthodoxy and was given the name
Vsevolod. After studies with the renowned the-
ater producer Vladimir
NEMIROVICH
-
DANCHENKO
and the director Konstantin
STANISLAVSKY
,he
worked for the Moscow Art Theater (1898-
1902). In 1902 he founded the New Drama
Company and served as its producer. In 1905 he
returned to Stanislavskii's studio, but the follow-
ing year he moved to St. Petersburg, where he
remained until 1917, as chief producer of the
Komissarzhevskaia Theater and the Aleksandrin-
skii Theater. An early interest in cinema resulted
in two films made in 1915 and since lost,
The
Strong Man
and
Dorian Grey,
that influenced con-
temporary filmmakers. After the revolution he
joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and was
briefly placed in charge of all Moscow theaters by
the commissar of enlightenment, Anatolii
LUNA
-
CHARSKY
. Meyerhold established his own theater
in 1920 and, with occasional interruptions,
worked there until it was closed down in 1938.
Michael Romanov
(1596-1645)
(Mikhail Feodorovich)
czar
Elected czar in February 1613, Michael inaugu-
rated the
ROMANOV DYNASTY
, which was to rule
Russia until 1917. Only 16 at the time of his
coronation five months later, Michael came to
power at the end of the
TIME OF TROUBLES
,a
period of dynastic instability, foreign invasion,
famine, and social upheaval. Considered a weak
ruler by most historians, in his long reign
Michael nevertheless reintroduced a measure of
stability into Russian life after the dislocations of
the Time of Troubles.
Michael's elevation to the throne of Russia
came as the result of a meeting of the
ZEMSKII
SOBOR
(Assembly of the Land). His name had
been first proposed in 1610, after Czar
VASILI IV
had been deposed, but he lost to the Polish prince
Wladyslaw, son of King Sigismund, who was
offered the Russian throne pending an agree-
ment that included his conversion to Russian
Orthodoxy. In 1613, after a three-year interreg-
num that witnessed the Polish occupation of
Moscow and the formation of a Russian national
army of liberation, Michael was one of six or
seven candidates whose names were proposed to
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