Plot Summary
The novel ends with a surprise twist, when Nikolai's worst fears are realized. The Mongol hordes that the Tsar kept at bay for hundreds of years are finally unleashed on the weakened empire of Russia via a complex labyrinth of tunnels. The inhabitants of Petersburg, unable to defend themselves from the ravaging horde of Tartars, quickly capitulate to the rule of the Khan. Appolon Appolonovich is beheaded by the tyrannical Khan and his son Nikolai assumes his rightful place as guardian of the Russian people. This was intended to be the first in an epic trilogy detailing the resistance movement of the intelligentsia against the alien invaders. However, with the onset of post-revolutionary censorship, the series was deemed to be too monarchist and was therefore abandoned.
Bely presents the idea of the entire world being connected by a series of tunnels. As a symbolist he saw tunnels as a gateway to the soul. By having the Mongols use these tunnels to breach Russia's defenses, he expresses the widely held fear of Orientalism defiling the Russian soul.
Read more about this topic: Petersburg (novel)
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