Whenever I come up short on something to post I almost always check to see what Ezra’s found for {R}emnants. I don’t think he’s ever left me empty handed. The other day he flipped us this fascinating New Statesmen article about a new book remembering Rasputin — the enigmatic Mad Monk died 100 years ago this December 30…
His legend has been recounted many times. The peasant who became an all-powerful figure at the Romanov court. His priapic sexuality and his rumoured affair with Tsarina Alexandra. His “burning” eyes. His ability to hypnotise and beguile. His gift for healing, which miraculously preserved the life of the haemophiliac heir, Tsarevich Alexei. His devilish influence over the imperial couple that led them into repeated mistakes, eventually precipitating the 1917 revolution. His debauchery. His supernatural power, which obliged his murderers to kill him not once, but thrice – with poisoned pink cakes, with gunshots at point-blank range and eventually by drowning him.
Read the whole article at the link above, and look back at the mysterious life and stubborn death of Rasputin with the 1996 film Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny starring the late, great Alan Rickman as the Mad Monk…
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