ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Catherine's published comedies—five full-length and five proverbs—from 1785—88. It suggests that Catherine's shaman character in her The Siberian Shaman, written in the midst of a controversy surrounding Nikolai Novikov's publishing output, is in part a reference to him, thus linking shamanic "cults" to Masonic ones. Catherine wrote to Johann Zimmermann that The Deceiver "represents Cagliostro," who, like the Freemasons, symbolized for Catherine the infiltration of the illogical and irrational into Russia. In 1786, having written The Deceiver and The Deceived One, Catherine ordered an investigation into Novikov's activities in Moscow, to determine whether he and his Mason friends had established any schools or hospitals. Catherine was aware of the significance of shamanism to Siberian culture. The chapter considers the later comedies, long and short, almost all come back to a central theme of charlatans preying on the gullible through trickery, flattery, and misinformation.
