Karamzin's Letters of a Russian Traveler

[Matthew Walker]

Another angle to consider, but less Greek and more French: the fact that in the same letter the doctor refers to the body as "our machine" (Когда в машине нашей...), which may be an oblique way of suggesting he is a disciple of La Mettrie and his L'homme machine (1748), one of the classics of 18th c. French materialism, and part and parcel of a view of man that Karamzin and his sentimentalism can be said to be grappling with throughout Letters.

Best,

Matt Walker   


On 11/15/10, "Stefani, Sara Marie"  <samastef at INDIANA.EDU> wrote:

> There is also the concept of spleen in Western European literature and culture, with the idea that an overproduction of fluids by this bodily organ can affect one's emotional state. The same idea is present in Dostoevsky's underground man, who is ill (if I remember correctly, he says it's his liver) and this affects his character, making him full of spite. In "Hamlet," one of the characters engages in the "luxury" of a deep sigh, because at the time it was thought that the body only had a certain amount of breath or spirit, and that by sighing one was shortening one's life.
> 
> I haven't researched any of this (so take all this with a grain of salt), but all these ideas seem to be connected to ancient Greek ideas about medicine - namely, the concept of the four humors in the body and the belief that overproduction of one of the four fluids impacts a person's mental and emotional state. Our good friend wikipedia says this under the entry "humoral medicine":
> 
> "From Hippocrates onward, the humoral theory was adopted by Greek, Roman and Islamic physicians, and became the most commonly held view of the human body among European physicians until the advent of modern medical research in the nineteenth century."
> 
> Obviously, you'd want to check up on this through more reliable routes, but at least it offers some kind of explanation to your question.
> 
> Good luck,
> sms
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] on behalf of Alina Israeli [aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU]
> Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 10:10 PM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Karamzin's Letters of a Russian Traveler
> 
> Желудок was understood as the whole digestive tract. For ex.
> 
> Если кто, имея больной желудок, не может принять горького лекарства,
> которое, бы его очистило, и погибает, то мы обвиняем не лекарство, а
> слабость органа; так и здесь причина — в слабости души. (Иоанн
> Златоуст. http://www.orthlib.ru/John_Chrysostom/riml09.html)
> 
> Желчный even though related to a physical function was and still is
> associated with human character.
> 
> AI
> 
> Nov 14, 2010, в 9:42 PM, Alexei Kutuzov написал(а):
> 
> > There's a passage in Karamzin's Letters of a Russian
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > There's a passage in Karamzin's Letters of a Russian Traveler that
> > has been
> > giving me some problems.  The passage takes place shortly after the
> > traveler has
> > received news of the French Revolution (under the entry for July 29)
> > and is
> > speaking to a "young doctor."  The passage reads as follows:
> > "Испорченный
> > желудок," сказал он, бывает источником не только всех болезней, но и
> > всех
> > пороков, всех дурных навыков, всех злых дел."  Can anyone on the
> > list confirm
> > the medical accuracy of this assertion?  That is to say, does an
> > upset stomach
> > really have substantial influence on one's moral qualities?  I'm not
> > clear if
> > the history of medicine bears this out, but I'd like to have
> > confirmation before
> > proceeding with an interpretation of the work.  Many thanks in
> > advance for any
> > leads.
> >
> > With best wishes to the list,
> >
> > Alexei Kutuzov
> > Independent Scholar
> >
> >
> 
> Alina Israeli
> Associate Professor of Russian
> LFS, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington DC 20016
> (202) 885-2387  fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
> 
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-- 
Matthew Walker
Ph.D. Candidate/TA
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1467 Van Hise Hall
mpwalker at wisc.edu

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