The novel's hero, a "bookish hipster" whose background is similar to Mr. Surkov's, "can see through the superficiality of his age, but is unable to have any real feelings for anyone or anything," wrote Peter Pomerantsev in the essay, which summed up Mr. Surkov's work as a "fusion of despotism and postmodernism".
In the work of Montesquieu, for example, despotism, or the lawless exercise of power by the single ruler, is contrasted with the constitutional forms of government of the monarchy and the republic.
"If you ask me why didn't I understand that any alternative to cutthroat capitalism and a society based on inequality and competitiveness not only wasn't going to work but was going to turn into some horror, either of despotism or of economic catastrophe, all I can say is that lots of people didn't understand this".
Research in West Germany during the 1980s examined the cultural interpretation of the Bastille against the wider context of the French Revolution; Hanse Lüsebrink and Rolf Reichardt's work, explaining how the Bastille came to be regarded as a symbol of despotism, was the among the most prominent.
While these works share certain themes -- most notably a fascination with non-European societies and a horror of despotism -- they are quite different from one another, and will be treated separately.
Huang's first major work, the Mingyi daifang lu (1663; Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince), was a critique of despotism in Chinese history.
The same is not true of despotism.
It was also a pitch for the benefits of despotism.
"Do we have to have a statue of despotism?
Africa knows enough of despotism to doubt a China model.
Organisers have urged protesters to "shake the palace of despotism".
