Books on Russians' views of the West (was: recent submissions)

[Loren A. Billings]

This is in response to the scholarly part (repeated below
at the very end of this message) of Vladimir Bilenkin's
recent post to this list. If I haven't misunderstood his
query, then what he needs is a book that lists views of the
United States and the West in general from the Russian
perspective (to mirror Malia's work).

In the late 1980s at the very beginning of my M.A. studies
I took a course at Georgetown University called "Soviet
images of America," taught by John Dick. Here are some
ideas based almost entirely on my experience in his course.

We used a book with several first-hand accounts, translated
into English, by Russian/Soviet citizens who (had) actually
traveled to the United States. I believe there were pieces
by Esenin and Majakovskij, perhaps even by Gor'kij. The
first account was of a visit to a utopian community in
Kansas in even the pre-Soviet era. Because it has been over
a decade, and my specialty is far from this area, I can't
describe the book in any closer detail. It appeared to be
published in the mid to late 1980s and may still be in
print. I'd love to have someone set the record straight
with the correct bibliographic details. If you want a
serious analysis of "constructs" (as I understand the
term), then consider some of these, especially Gor'kij and
his ball of golden string (although again, I'm not sure
whether that particular reading is in this volume).

We also read Il'f & Petrov's book, based on a trip by car
around the States in the 1930s, called _Little golden
America_; I had read portions of the book (in the original:
_Odno`eta^znaja Amerika_), for an undergraduate course a
couple years beforehand. This book, while often
lighthearted and even satirical, really left an impression
on me. (Hence, I remember the titles!) If your aim is to
leave an impression on students, then consider this one.
I'm not sure, however, whether Il'f & Petrov contribute any
serious constructs as such.

We also read some experiences of emigre/exile writers
(Aksenov and Sol^zenicyn). In my view, these are not of a
piece with the other accounts.

Best, --Loren Billings

-----------------------------------------------------
Loren A. Billings, Ph.D.; e-mail <billings at pu.edu.tw>
Dept. of English Language, Literature and Linguistics
Providence University, 200 Chung Chi Road, Shalu Town
Taichung Hsien/County, Taiwan 43301 Republic of China
Telephone: +886-4-2632-8001 ext. 2221 or (dept.) 2021
-----------------------------------------------------

> Sender:       <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
> Poster:       Vladimir Bilenkin <achekhov at UNITY.NCSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: recent submissions

[SNIP]

> Next spring I will have to teach a new course on
> cross-national representations "Russia and the West:
> Under each other's eyes".  (To make it even worse, this
> is an undergraduate course).  I have enough materials on
> Western "constructs" of Russia/SU, including Malia's
> _Under the Western Eyes_, which can be utilized as a
> quasi textbook, not to mention profitably exploited as
> such a "construct"  in its own right.  But the Russian
> side of this course is much weaker in interpretative
> literature.  I was able to find only several topical
> articles (like Riasanovsky's "Russia and the West in the
> Teaching of Slavophiles"), but nothing like Malia's book,
> or even a survey type of an article on the history
> Russian perceptions of Europe/the West.  I suspect that
> generally this poverty of my bibliography reflects the
> real situation in the field of Russian cultural history.
> We do not have anything even approaching Said's type and
> scope of theorizing in regard to Russia-the West
> relations. But I may be wrong and will be happy to learn
> I am. Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Vladimir Bilenkin,
> FLL, NCSU

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