Thomas Cromwell’s Lesson in Patriotism : Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies as Literature for Upbringing Russian Minds

Abstract: The paper analyses Hilary Mantel’s novel Bring Up the Bodies in terms of how it might correlate with the notion of Russian patriotism. The origin for the research lies in the official list of literature recommended for patriotic education in Russia that was compiled in late 2015 and is thus immediately connected with the surge of state-driven patriotism in the country following the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Bring Up the Bodies is among very few contemporary historical novels by non-Russian authors included in the list. The conducted analysis reveals certain features in the novel’s protagonist and his behaviour that might correspond with the understanding of patriotism and citizenship in Russians. Moreover, the paper argues that legal pragmatism practiced by the protagonist, as well as the very style of historical representation in the novel, that re-evaluates the historical figure of Cromwell and undermines subjectivity of the historical past, may be seen as legitimising contemporary politics in Russia by way of establishing a “tradition.”