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''[[The Death of the Vazir-Mukhtar]]'' ("Смерть Вазир-Мухтара", "Smert' Vazir-Mukhtara") is a [[Historical Fiction|historical novel]] by early Soviet literary historian and critic Yury Tynyanov, set in early 19th century Russia and Persia and centered on the last year in the life of [[wikipedia:Griboedov|Aleksandr Sergeyevich Griboyedov]], a famous Russian [[He Also Did|playwright, poet, Oriental scholar, polyglot and diplomat]]. It opens with his return to Moscow after a successful diplomatic mission in Persia; from there, he goes to St. Petersburg to report to his superiors, and, after a short while, sets out on a new mission to Persia in the capacity of Minister (Ambassador) Plenipotentiary, or, as the Persians call him, [[Title Drop|"Vazir-Mukhtar"]]. Along the way he visits Tiflis ([[Istanbul (Not Constantinople)|Tbilisi]]), another important location in his past, then goes on to Tebriz, and finally, Tehran. [[It Was His Sled|And then he dies.]] [[Book Ends|The book ends with a Persian embassy to Russia, sent with the purpose of making up after the circumstances of Griboyedov's death, that goes through many of the same places and encounters many of the same people as Griboyedov did in the beginning.]] Note that all this traveling, while thematically very important, is ofcourse the skeleton of the novel's plot; the meat is Griboyedov's encounters with [[Loads and Loads of Characters|a colourful cast of characters inhabiting all those locations]], as well as trying to fulfill some of his many ambitions, be they career, political, matrimonial or literary, all while dealing with various personal issues and setbacks.
Major historical issues include the Golden Age of Russian literature, the aftershock of [[wikipedia:Decembrist|the 1825 Decembrist uprising]] (which involved many of Griboyedov's old friends), the incipience of the Anglo-Russian Great Game and the godwaful state of Persia under the middle Qajars.
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This book is notable for a lot of things - a fairly quirky writing style ([[True Art Is Incomprehensible|slipping into the nigh-incomprehensible on a few occasions]]), plenty of various lyrical, psychological and historical digressions, the realisation of Tynyanov's modernist theories of literature, detailed and sometimes striking psychological insights into many - often entirely incidental - characters, as well as simply being an extraordinarily well-researched piece of [[Historical Fiction]]. Its critical reception has been variable - Solzhenitsyn in particular found a lot of things he disagreed with in its style and its specific arguments - but despite being relatively obscure and overshadowed by other early 20th century works, it is still a part of the Russian [[School Study Media|high school curriculum]]. It is not entirely unknown in the West, either, at least not to Tynyanov's fellow literary critics. It was translated in 1938 as ''Death and Diplomacy in Persia''.
{{tropelist}}
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: While the main body of the text follows Griboyedov, many other characters get some portions dedicated to their own POV, sometimes in an unique frame (Professor Adelung has a diary, for instance; [[Sad Clown|General Sipyagin]] gets a drunken monologue that alternates between [[Tear Jerker]] and [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]). Pretty much all of them are noteworthy in some way.
* [[All Your Base Are Belong to Us]]: The Russian embassy in the penultimate chapter.
* [[Ambition Is Evil]]: Chaadayev and some of the other "people of the [eighteen] twenties" tend to have viewpoints; Griboyedov tends to notice that this might be because ''their'' careers are ruined already.
* [[Angst? What Angst?]]: Griboyedov apparently [[Invoked Troper|deliberately]] went into this mode having stopped for some rest and a brief love affair in the middle of nowhere (or, more specifically, somewhere between St. Petersburg and Tiflis). It's lampshaded and justified in the book itself:
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* [[Apron Matron]]: Griboyedov's mother.
* [[Arabian Nights Days]]: Persia is thought of by some to be more like this, but it's actually shown realistically, or, if we speak in tropes, as 1/8th this (mostly for the cream of the aristocracy, and even then not entirely) and 7/8ths [[The Dung Ages]], not just because of serious health and hygiene problems, but also because the overwhelming majority of the population is poor, miserable and [[Powder Keg Crowd|very unhappy about it]].
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* [[Gossipy Hens]]: Many, many examples - what would you expect from a book with so many 19th century high society characters? Faddey Bulgarin probably takes the cake though; he's practically an early 19th century Russian Paparazzo, and he evidently can't help but comically spout out semi-fabricated rumours about various literary world greats to his friends.
* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: Lots of foreign languages are used (mostly French, but also English, Farsi, Arabic...), but not gratuitously in any way. There is the internal example of Sasha [[Feigning Intelligence|occasionally using Farsi words to seem smarter]], though.
* [[Grey and Grey Morality]]: All named characters have flaws, but none are [[Complete Monster|entirely unsympathetic monsters]] and all have at least some redeeming or empathetic traits.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Both Hodja Mirza Yakub and ensign Skryplev attempt to defect (sort of; the book goes into detail on the nuances of both cases, the former was from a territory now recognised as Russian and so had the right to leave for Russia per the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the latter was just a nearly accidental defector who decided to defect right back) to Russia. Hodja managed to get into the embassy and died when it was attacked by an angry mob, the latter implicitly didn't even make it that far.
* [[Hero Harasses Helpers]]: Griboyedov is prone to harassing the overly enthusiastic and annoying martinet Maltsov; his other helpers, not so much, but he doesn't seem to think too highly of them either, and occasionally abuses his manservant, even though ultimately he considers him his closest friend.
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* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: Burtsev and several other Decembrist officers are shown to be this to Paskevich, each of them within his own sphere.
* [[Impoverished Patrician]]: Griboyedov's background is close to this, though he himself is rather more successful.
* [[In with the In Crowd]]: Griboyedov in with the Russian political, social and military elite, even more so than he was before the success of his diplomatic career. But [[Lonely
* [[Jade-Colored Glasses]]: Actually, Griboyedov was always pretty jaded, but he himself seems to think that he got even worse after [[My Greatest Failure|some of the things that happened]] during his previous, otherwise successful diplomatic mission.
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Bulgarin would be this if he wasn't always so friendly despite also being a scumbag. Griboyedov is either this trope player straight or an inversion - while contemptuous, he likes to help people, but largely because [[Good Feels Good|it feels good]] to know that you have the power to make or unmake them; in other words, it usually is just a way of reinforcing his own sense of superiority.
* [[The Jester]]: Fazil Khan the Qajar court poet is this in the broader sense of the trope. Subverted with fatal consequences when Griboyedov mistakes a dervish for this as well and idly wonders what a dervish is doing at the court during an important reception without getting a closer look; the dervish turns out to be Abdul-Vehab, an influential, high-ranking clergyman who {{spoiler|casts the deciding vote for putting Griboyedov on trial for violation of the Sharia, launching the sequence of events that directly leads to the destruction of the embassy and the death of Griboyedov}}.
* [[Jumped At the Call]]: Griboyedov, at the end of the St. Petersburg portion of the book, decides to jump at the call of becoming the Minister Plenipotentiary in Persia, even though the position was offered to him partly as a snub, just to spite his superiors and to get away from St. Petersburg society.
* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: Doctor McNeal really doesn't seem like it at first, but his arrival in St. Petersburg ends up greatly changing the overall tone and course of the story, as he: a) reminds Griboyedov about Persia, b) delivers an angry letter from another candidate for this trope, Samson Khan and c) semi-inadvertantly drives an officer Griboyedov was [[Pet the Dog|trying to help out]] to suicide, increasing Griboyedov's despair and contributing to his decision to leave for Persia.
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* [[Lonely Funeral]]: Griboyedov's funeral isn't actually shown in the book (the procession carrying his remains back to Russia is, and it certainly fits), but you just know it's going to be this, as even his closest friends are pretty quick to abandon him in spirit if not in word, and most people are only concerned with his death as an unpleasant diplomatic incident.
* [[Lovable Coward]]: One of Bulgarin's many endearing vices.
* [[MacGuffin]]: Griboyedov's number one mission in Persia is to extract the kururs, i.e. the war reparations so as to finance the war effort against Turkey. Subverted in that it is only marginally significant to the actual plot, and the only one who really cares about them is Paskevich; Griboyedov's other superiors eventually decide that it would be better to forgive some part of the kururs, though by this point Griboyedov is disinclined to listen anyway.
* [[Malicious Slander]]: Plenty of it all around. Bulgarin likes to spread this in his literary journal, and the aforementioned numerous [[Gossipy Hens]] like it too; one early bit of [[Malicious Slander]] (reffered to in the page quote) was about how Griboyedov is supposedly helping Paskevich feign intelligence. It's a cause of some annoyance, but ultimately isn't such a major plot point.
** {{spoiler|Maltsov's [[Malicious Slander]] against Griboyedov is nevertheless notable for putting a capital M into Malicious, as you realise that he is blaming Griboyedov, ''who is dead'', for ''everything'' that went wrong, whether it was in any way his fault or not, all to save himself.}}
* [[
* [[Meddling Parents]]: Griboyedov's mother, who goes out of her way to ensure a successful diplomatic career for her son whether he likes it or not.
* [[Minored in Asskicking]]: Griboyedov, as it turns out. Also, Adelung.
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* [[Not So Different]]: On a national level - Russia and Persia are repeatedly shown to be very, very similar in many regards - Griboyedov is particularly prone to noticing this soon after going from one to another. The Persians also tend to insist on this, even when it is apparently inaccurate (see Succession Crisis). Arguably, likewise with the British and the Russians in the incipient Great Game; as the British ambassador to Persia and his staff often point out, they're [[Mighty Whitey|all Europeans among savages]].
* [[Not So Stoic]]: Griboyedov generally can keep up a stoic facade, but still has a few outbursts here and there, in particular to his friends such as Bulgarin:
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* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Many characters seem somewhat silly or downright dumb at first glance, while actually rather clever. Griboyedov usually can see through them, though.
** One notable example would be [[Funny Foreigner]] Doctor McNeal, who is possibly even more of a [[Manipulative Bastard]] than Griboyedov thought, {{spoiler|and who ultimately orchestrated his death}}.
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* [[Plague of Good Fortune]]: Not as such, but see [[Victorious Loser]] below; up until then, Griboyedov was feeling downright miserable with [[In with the In Crowd|all the successes]] he's been having.
* [[Plucky Comic Relief]]: Faddey Bulgarin.
* [[Pointy-Haired Boss]]: [[wikipedia:Nesselrode|Nesselrode]] is a textbook example. Possibly Emperor Nicholas I as well.
* [[Police Brutality]]: Griboyedov interferes to stop some of this in St. Petersburg.
* [[Powder Keg Crowd]]: Persia has been teeming with those for months now, owing to bad and degrading living conditions and in particular the most recent disastrous war with Russia. So it's no surprise when one of those crowds in Tehran goes and explodes in Griboyedov's face.
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* [[War Is Hell]]: Well it certainly isn't much good when you get the plague, anyway. Or when you got sent to the frontlines as a form of punishment for political crimes and are treated by your superiors accordingly.
* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: ''Internal'' example: Griboyedov arrives in Tehran on the beginning of the Islamic month Muharram, the first ten days of which are associated in Shi'a Islam with mourning the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali. The man responsible for Ali's death, Umar ibn Sa'ad, infamously rode into Karbala on a black horse. Then: [[Chekhov's Gun|"Vazir-Mukhtar entered the city on a black horse."]]
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Griboyedov gets that a lot, with varying subtlety and directness, usually because he is seen as [[Yes-Man|going to great ends to help out and ingratiate himself with the Russian government and various military and political leaders]]. The one that really gets him, however, is the one his confrontation with Burtsev, who reads through his plan for a Russian East India-style company in the Caucasus, congratulates him for his vision and then flat out tells him that he would oppose this plan with all his power because it would inevitably result in Russian peasants being used as slave labour ("like negroes, like convicts") all for the sake of [[Greed]]. Griboyedov fires back with a devastating [[Hannibal Lecture]], but nevertheless "the Project" that he has been almost consistently obsessing over until now suddenly doesn't look as good or as interesting to him anymore.
* [[The White Prince]]: Despite being knowledgeable, cynical and competent, Griboyedov still matches this trope by being highly reliant on his servant with regards to everyday matters.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Abbas Mirza, being an Oriental Crown Prince with great interest in Western culture.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Historical Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Russian Literature]]
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