How Americans Look at Russia - Summary

Tue Oct 16 22:05:10 UTC 2001

Dear colleagues,

Some of you may still vaguely remember my request way back in June for
suggestions for materials to include in a lecture or course on how
Americans look at Russia.  At long last, here is the summary of responses
I received to this query.  Many thanks to Konstantin Kustanovich, Laurel
Schultz, Russell Valentino, and Olga Zatsepina for their contributions.
I've also included a short bibliography of sources I found that might be
of interest.  Since at this point I was only working on developing a
lecture on the topic, the bibliography is not all that extensive.  You
will notice that there is some crossover between how Americans look at
Russia and how Russians look at America.  If the unscientific compilation
I have created below sparks other ideas on the topic, please let me know!

Best regards,

Margarita Nafpaktitis
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

************************************************************************

Konstantin Kustanovich <konstantin.v.kustanovich at vanderbilt.edu> kindly
shared a unique resource:

"As for American views of Russia, last year I took ten students to St.
Petersburg for a month to teach there a course on contemporary life
and culture. At the end I asked them to write papers answering
specific questions about Russia and Russians. I put these unedited
papers at the address below. You might find them interesting and
useful." (They really are wonderful reading! - MN)
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/Germanic-Slavic/russian/Maymester2000.html

Laurel Schultz <lschultz at ix.netcom.com> recommended a "mean, funny, and
interesting" story called, "The Very Rigid Search," by Jonathan Safran
Foer in the June 18 &25, 2001 issue of the New Yorker for a cross-cultural
perspective.  The narrator is a Ukrainian who ends up as a guide for the
author, who is on a trip to Ukraine to find his roots.  But many of the
misunderstandings and stereotypes that the American author and the
Ukrainian narrator confront in this piece resonate with Russian culture as
well. [And it *is* very funny! -- MN]

Russell Valentino <russell-valentino at uiowa.edu> riffed on this theme and
came up with a rich mix of genres:

* Aksyonov's In Search of Melancholy Baby
* "Two British texts that nevertheless are part of American culture: A
Clockwork Orange, which is chockfull of Russian slang, and Conrad's Heart
of Darkness in which the part of the harlequin (the nameless character
who survives in the jungle and whose book Marlowe finds before arriving at
Kurtz's jungle abode) is a Russian. In Coppola's adaptation for the screen
(Apocalypse Now), this is the part played by Dennis Hopper, though
unfortunately all the Russianness has disappeared."

Then, I opened the can of worms and told Russell that I keep a list of
movies where famous film/TV stars speak Russian, and we bonded.  Here is
his list:
* "just about every James Bond movie has at least one (stereotyped) image
of Russia in it.   So many popular spy films and books do the same. Le
Carre comes to mind, as well as Tom Clancy."
*And then there are all those scenes in American movies where famous
non-Russian actors speak Russian (even if they are not playing actual
Russians):
Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October
Pierce Brosnan says a few lines in the second James Bond film he did (I
think it's The World Is Not Enough).
Nicole Kidman and George Clooney both have lines in Russian in The
Peacemaker.
Michelle Pfeiffer plays a Russian and speaks a little in Russia House.
Val Kilmer speaks some Russian in The Saint, as does the now American
actor
Rade Serbedzija.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider, in which the heroine quips, "Kogo videt'?" to a
little girl.
Airforce One has lots.
He concludes, "The best and most Russian I've ever heard spoken by an
American actor is in a TV miniseries from the 1980s called The Winds of
War. Robert Mitchum goes
on for a good ten minutes in a speech to a bunch of Soviet diplomats. I
think I remember an interview he did in which he was asked about it and he
responded that actors are supposed to be able to do that kind of thing.
Too bad it's so rare."

[My own additions to this include:
Sandra Bullock in the opening scenes of "Miss Congeniality" telling a
bunch of Russian Mafiosi to hit the floor
Kevin Costner in No Way Out
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Red Heat
John Cleese speaking pseudo-Russian in A Fish Called Wanda
Various episodes of the X-Files

I have long wondered whether a compilation of these screen moments played
on continuous loop at student orientations might just get some of them
thinking about Russian?  If the Air Force can use Top Gun as a recruiting
tool...   -- MN]

Another category Russell has  explored is "American (and
Amero-Brit) film adaptations of Russian literature, as they say a lot
about
stereotyping and audience expectations. A few I have used (and would
recommend) are:  Anna Karenina (1) with Sophie Marceau in the title role,
(2) with Greta
Garbo, and (3) with Vivian Leigh. Students seem to like (1) best. It's
historically all mixed up, but is probably the most watchable today.
David Lean's Dr. Zhivago gave the balalaika more airtime than any other
American film ever.
In my opinion, Audrey Hepburn makes a better Natasha Rostova in the 1956
Hollywood War and Peace than does Bondarchuk's actress (whose name escapes
me) in the Soviet version.
Haven't yet watched the Onegin (with Ralph Feinnes and Liv Tyler), though
I plan to watch it this summer."

Olga Zatsepina <culturelink at worldnet.att.net> and her husband, who is a
psychologist, have written an article on how Russian students understand
American values, and "why they are so negative to them."  She said it's
available on their website: http://culturelinks.net/, and while I didn't
find it there, I did find their  article on Russian vs. American business
practices, which could also be useful. Her contact information is also on
the site, so you could get in touch with her directly if you're
specifically interested in the article she mentioned.

And here's the short bibliography that I came up with:

Anschel, Eugene, ed. The American Image of Russia, 1775-1917. New York:
Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1974.
Anthology of primary sources, e.g., 14-year-old John Quincy Adams' essay
written about his trip to St. Petersburg in 1781-1782 while serving as
secretary and interpreter to the American diplomatic mission led by
Francis Dana.  Also, useful introduction and some period line drawings
from American periodicals.

Barson, Michael and Steven Heller. Red Scared! The Commie Menace in
Propaganda and Popular Culture. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2001.
Sketchy narrative, no bibliography, but pages and pages of full-color
reproductions of lurid Cold War book jackets and movie posters.

Dallek, Robert. "How We See the Soviets." In Shared Destiny: Fifty Years
of Soviet-American Relations. Ed. Mark Garrison and Abbott Gleason.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1985.

Filene, Peter G., ed. American Views of Soviet Russia, 1917-1965.
Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press, 1968.

Gaddis, John Lewis.  Russia, the Soviet Union, and the United States: An
Interpretive History. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990.

Grayson, Benson L., ed. The American Image of Russia, 1917-1977. New York:
Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1978.
Anthology of primary sources, including, e.g., Langston Hughes' account of
"The Experiences of a Black Visitor" and Eleanor Roosevelt's essay, "I
Should Die If I Had to Live There."

Laserson, Max M. The American Impact on Russia -- Diplomatic and
Ideological -- 1784-1917. New York: Macmillan, 1950.

LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, and the Cold War: 1945-1992.  7th ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.

Saul, Norman E. Concord and Conflict: The United States and Russia,
1867-1914. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1996.
Comprehensive history with many many primary sources cited in footnotes.

Saul, Norman E. War and Revolution: The United States and Russia,
1917-1921. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2001.
Comprehensive history with many many primary sources cited in footnotes.

Scott, John.  Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia's City of
Steel. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1942.

Steinbeck, John. A Russian Journal. With photographs by Robert Capa. New
York: Penguin, 1999.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------