Holy man or love machine, who was the real Rasputin?
The story of Grigori Rasputin reads like a fable. An obscure, uneducated peasant living in rural Siberia at the turn of the 19th Century, inspired by a vision of the Virgin Mary, sets out on a holy journey across Russia, travelling for many years before finally arriving at the palace of the Tsar.
Rasputin formed an extraordinarily intimate relationship with the last Emperor of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, becoming their spiritual guru, political adviser, faith healer, priest and prophet.
In December 1916, Felix Yusupov murdered Rasputin, convinced that if Russia was to live, the travelling mystic had to die. Most of the nation agreed, viewing the bearded prophet as the personification of evil. Some believed he was Satan; others that he was a Khlyst (a member of an extreme, underground religious sect); a drunkard; a sex fiend.
Whenever Rasputin’s name appeared in the press, wild accusations followed. There were stories that he once raped a 70-year-old nun; that he had a steamy affair with the Empress Alexandra; that he kept the Romanovs’ son, Alexei, alive through mystical powers; that he charmed vulnerable women into depraved orgies; and that he prophesied if anything bad should happen to him, the monarchy would collapse.
But how much does the mythology misrepresent the man himself ? Was everything he did bad for Russia?
These are the two central questions Douglas Smith sets out to answer in this astounding biography. And he succeeds, eschewing the gossip and innuendo that have long surrounded his subject to produce a well-rounded portrait of a complex individual. He gleans his information from archives across seven countries, disproving several of the myths in the process.
The narrative is set against the backdrop of a tumultuous epoch in Russian history, when the state and religion were competing for power. And Smith shows that Rasputin was the perfect scapegoat for both, as imperial Russia began to tear itself apart, and the dark forces of totalitarianism were waiting in the wings.