Beller and Leerssen - Imagology: the cultural construction and literary representation of national
characters (a critical survey)
226-228 Russia
Russia as distant land with vague but positive reputation in Western Europe
13th century; russia emerged onto european political scene and 15 th century; russia in
european imagination
o Because:
o Muscovy subjugated other slavic countries and united them
o Title of Tsar was claimed, formerly only used in byzantium, saw himself as imperial
protector of orthodox christendom, led to strong self-image of russian empire and
‘holy russia’
Western eyes; Russia backwards, sparely populated with nobles and serfs, little political
organisation, no cultural or intellectual achievement. Tsar was seen as Asiatic despot,
strengthened by Ivan IV
During 17th century Russia biggest political entity by defeating Poland-Lithuania, annexing
Ukraine and conquering Siberia
During time of Peter the Great; modernisation and westernisation, then Catherine the Great
played into ideal of enlightened despotism
During 18th century modernisation in Russia was looked at with approval and apprehension
After Industrial Revolution; russia again more backwards, mixing with dissaproval and
exoticism. Lack of trade or industry, reliance on serf labour, lack of middle class or public
sphere.
o Russia as transit zone between civilized Europe and stagnated Asia
Napoleonic wars led to st petersburg being centre for anti-napoleonic exiles
From Congress of Vienna onwards; Russia was a European power
From Romanticism onwards; russian literature (pushkin) was appreciated, since romanticism
caused appreciation for new Slavic cultures
New set of 3 principles; autocracy, orthodoxy and nationality (led to intolerance non-russian
cultures and even Poland)
Because of the emergence of modern literature, in 2 nd half of 19th century more appreciation
for national themes, in western europe more admiration and surprise for russian culture,
refined imperial court life.
o Reputation layered, still oriental despotism but also more natural submissiveness,
meekness, endurance and patience (like Verne’s Michel Strogoff)
After communist revolution russia’s participation in western metropolitan culture survived
only through people in exile
o Communist rule made interruption of reputation, became mistrust and oriental
despotism exemplified by stalin and show trials
o Books of that time read in the west as period of suffering, image of spiritually
exalted Russia survived the despotism, may even survive transformation to market
economy
315-318 East/West
Asymmetrical valorisation of east vs west and implied eurocentrism has long history
4 long period migrations
o Nile and yellow river (300-1500bc)
, o Indo-european expansion (1500-0bc)
o Asian-based expansion westward (0-1500)
o Rise of europe to global hegemony (from middle ages onwards)
Positioning the self as ‘western’ versus Orient, yet not other way around
Europe owes a lot to the ‘Orient’, from technology to Christendom
o Contact of Europe with other parts of the world influenced Europe’s great variety of
(cosmopolitan) art
o Has europe received more than it gave?
European images of orient are influenced by historical events, religions and fanciful
imagination
o Examples
Orient could be Asia (levantine) or africa (maghreb)
Literary formulation of Orient in medieval epic VS literature of hegemony and imperialism
Orientalism as looking at Hinduism or Buddhism, or something positive
o Orientalism vs occidentalism
North vs South = often through Climate while East vs West is often based on historical
events and political and religious reasoning
‘East’ as very undefined area with undefined characteristics
‘East and west have not met, but they have become blurred … and have become ciphers of
mythical and ideological values.’
446-449 Travel Writing (TW)
What is TW?
o Narrative or descriptive texts, travel novel, travel guide, non-fiction, fiction, logbook,
poetry
o Central form is the travel account which typically narrates in chronological order the
sequence of events between departure and return
o Has shaped poetic narration, motif and structure
Whenever a text’s purpose is not practically-oriented transmission of facts -> look at its
poetic form (diary, letters, memoirs etc)
Self-referential vs other-referential, pragmatic vs non-pragmatic, current vs retrospective
TW always organizes differences, what is unfamiliar and what not, and highlights between
the familiar and the alien
Imagological relevance stems from function and construction of ‘otherness’ derived from
familiar concepts and known facts
TW always has poetic function and never restricted to hard facts
o It necessarily contradicts material reality and retains autonomy as textual construct
o Depiction of journey often written after journey has ended, step further from reality
Empirical validity cannot be checked to the reality to which it refers
Poetic autonomy is strengthened by historical relativity and subjectivity of author
o TW often reveals more about author than area
TW as historical source but double expressiveness; info precarious but more important are
the changes they reflect in conditions pf influencing perception of self and other
Until 18th century TW as mostly functional but during 19 th century it became a form of
entertainment and travel bc of travel, later also because of tourism
From 18th century onwards also a more critical view towards TW and its credibility; two
categories; factual and fiction
