image of the foreigner

[Daniel Rancour-Laferriere]

Yes, Russian assimilationism and other factors have always made Russian 
identity a rather vague and amorphous entity.  Scratch a Russian and you 
will find.... all kinds of "other" identities.  On close inspection the 
Russian "self" is very difficult to distinguish from the Russian "other."

When I was still sudying things Russian I published a book about this: 
RUSSIAN NATIONALISM FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE (Edwin Mellen 
Press, 2000, with Introduction by Kathleen Parthé); in Russian as 
ROSSIIA I RUSSKIE GLAZAMI AMERIKANSKOGO PSIKHOANALITIKA (Ladomir, 2003).

For a condensed view of the problem, see: "Who Are the Russians?" 
RUSSIAN LIFE (no. 6, 2002, p. 64).

With regards to the list,

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere

http://rancour-laferriere.com



Valentino, Russell wrote:

>One more reverse example occurs to me. Sinyavsky in his Soviet Civilization: A Cultural History ruminates on the general imperfection and amorphousness of the Russian national character. This has always seemed to me to imply an other, non-Russian whose national character is relatively well-formed and stable. He doesn't explore the implication, but it seems to rely on exactly the kinds of images the list has been generating, as well as some popular assumptions. It also ties to the lateness of Russia's national project vis-a-vis some of its European neighbors and the spread of print culture and reading (as Jeff Brooks reminded us in his post). As part of the national project, the images running through my head (from Gogol's "Asiatic" money lender from Portrait to the foreigners and foreignish Russians in Turgenev's mid-century novels or War and Peace) all tend to show what authentic Russians are supposed to be like to a group that is rather unsure about it; the transition to !
 what Soviets are supposed to be like is pretty seemless.
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