Monks and anthropologists

[rjs19 at COLUMBIA.EDU]

Dear Muireann,

in addition to Anna Reid's wonderful book and the translated works of  
Bogoras, your inquirer might want to take a look at Yuri Rytkheu's  
novel _Poslednii shaman_, translated into English as _The Chukchi  
Bible_ (Archipelago Books, 2011), in which Bogoras figures as a  
character.

One might also check the bibliographies of Yuri Slezkine's _Arctic  
Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North_ (Cornell, 1994)  
and _Between Heaven and Hell: The Myth of Siberia in Russian Culture_  
(Palgrave Macmillan, 1993, co-edited with Galya Diment) in case there  
are materials listed there that Anna didn't also use for _The Shaman's  
Coat_.

Re: Q2, it's not exactly what was requested, but there are Russian  
monks (and nuns!) in Boris Akunin's "Sister Pelagea" trilogy, and the  
portrait is darkly satirical as you'd expect from Akunin.  But also  
decidedly post-Soviet.

All the best,
Rebecca S.

Quoting Anna Reid <annareid01 at BTINTERNET.COM>:

> Dear Muireann,
>
> On exiles-turned-anthropologists, your questioner could have a look   
> at my 'The Shaman's Coat: a Native History of Siberia' (Weidenfeld,   
> 2002). It's got lots in, both about   their actual studies and about  
>  the politics around native rights in the '20s and '30s, plus a   
> carefully selected bibliography. The exile-ethnographer I fell most   
> in love with was Waldemar Bogoras, whose writing on the Chukchi is   
> absolutely wonderful (and translated!) Tell your person to go to the  
>  British Library and get out 'The Chukchee and Chukchee Mythology',   
> vols 7 and 8 of the Publications of the Jesup North Pacific   
> Expedition (New York, 1910-13). It's terrific - humane, empathetic,   
> and born of intimate knowledge - and also beautifully illustrated.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Anna Reid
>
>
> On 30 Jan 2013, at 09:14, Muireann Maguire wrote:
>
>> Dear SEELANGS colleagues,
>>
>> I have recently been asked two intriguing   
>> character-archetypes-in-Russian-literature questions which I find   
>> myself unable to answer. I am copying them here in the hope that   
>> list members can respond more adequately. As neither of the   
>> questioners have access to SEELANGS, I request that you reply   
>> either directly to me at muireann.maguire at googlemail.com or, if   
>> replying on-list, please copy to me. This will make it easier for   
>> me to forward any replies to the original questioners.
>>
>> Q1: I have a research interest in the popular representation of   
>> anthropologists and anthropological ideas. I recently read a paper   
>> on the anthropological fieldwork (to me, until then, completely   
>> unknown) done by imprisoned/exiled Russian activists in the 1870s   
>> and '80s: astonishingly early. Hence my query: do you, please, know  
>>  of any writings in Russian (but translated) in the first half of   
>> the twentieth century which make reference to ethnographers,   
>> ethnographies, and/or anthropology?
>>
>> Q2: I am working on a paper which addresses the figure of monks in   
>> Russian literature. I would like to have as many examples as   
>> possible. Currently, I am searching for some works which deals with  
>>  the parodical treatment of Russian monks or some criticism of  
>> their  ascetic life. I guess there is a plenty of examples in  
>> soviet  prose, yet nothing comes to mind. I would be very glad if  
>> you could  come up with some examples.
>>
>> I draw a complete blank on Q1 and my responses to Q2 are mostly   
>> pre-Soviet (or feature a priest rather than a monk). Help   
>> gratefully received (and passed on).
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Muireann
>> --
>> Dr Muireann Maguire                 Wadham College, Oxford
>>
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