Promotor Prof. dr. Ben Dhooge Copromotor Prof. dr. Wim Coudenys
Decaan Prof. dr. Gita Deneckere Rector Prof. dr. Rik Van de Walle
Safeguarding Russian culture as a cultural reality or as a cultural
construct?
The newsmagazine ‘Illustrated Russia’ and popular Russian émigré culture in the interwar period
Phaedra Claeys
Proefschrift voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van Doctor in de Oost-Europese talen en culturen
2020
Acknowledgments
I have spent the past four years in the wonderful world of Illustrated Russia. It has been an incredibly interesting and enriching journey, although at times this research has proven to be a true challenge. Trying to describe my struggles with Illustrated Russia, I came up with numerous metaphors. That the journal is like Pandora’s box which, upon opening, would not stop until its entire content had come out. That Illustrated Russia is like a maze in which I felt increasingly lost on more than one occasion. Or that it is like a swamp and that my every move in this incredible – but treacherous – treasury made me sink in even deeper. Thankfully I was not alone in this journey.
Therefore, I wish to thank many people whose help and support – directly or indirectly – has guided me, and helped me find a way out.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my promotor, prof. dr. Ben Dhooge, for his never-waning belief in me and the wonderful opportunity he has given me four years ago. Thank you, Ben, for your support, your guidance and your pointed questions keeping me on my toes and steering me in the right direction.
Second, I wish to thank my co-promotor, prof. dr. Wim Coudenys, as well as my other DAC-members, prof. dr. Ellen Rutten, prof. dr. Marianne Van Remoortel, and dr.
Griet Theeten. It is with great pleasure that I recall our meetings and the safe space they provided to discuss my research. Thank you for you constructive criticism and your encouraging words.
I would like to thank La Contemporaine for embarking on this journey and collaborating in the digitization of Illustrated Russia. I also want to thank the Ghent University Library, in particular Hendrik Defoort and Dries Moreels, for their vital aid and support in disclosing Illustrated Russia. I also am grateful to Hans Blomme for helping me with my many questions about the Nodegoat database, and to Nicolas Franck for his work on the IIIF repository. A big thank you to the Ghent Center for Digital Humanities as well, for introducing me to the mind-blowing – although still very mysterious – world of Digital Humanities.
Additionally, I wish to thank my colleagues for their interest in my research and their encouraging words. In particular I want to thank Tilde Geerardyn, Amber Ivanov,
Oshank Hashemi, Luc Breukelman, Fien De Block and Ayla Anckaert for the support and the many warm conversations, whether or not based on my work. You have made the past four years so much more than just ‘work’. I also want to thank Anna Namestnikov for her valuable contributions in the framework of her internship. Thank you for your enthusiasm and for sharing your insights with me, Anna, I have truly enjoyed our close collaboration.
Finally, I would not have been able to submit this dissertation without the unfailing support of my family and friends. In particular, I would like to thank my parents and godfather for stimulating my curiosity and inquisitiveness ever since I was young, and for instilling in me a love for arts and culture in the broadest sense of the word. I want to thank my brother for always offering a listening ear and making me laugh. Last but not least, I am most grateful to my husband and biggest supporter, Aaron, for his unconditional support and encouragement throughout these four years, especially during the past few months. Thank you for being my anchor, always.
List of figures
Figure 1: Masthead on cover. IR 1925-9(18). ... 30
Figure 2: Three types of covers: IR 1925-11(20), 1926-27(60) and 1930- 18(259). ... 31
Figure 3: Box with IR's content. IR 1924-8(8), p. 1. ... 32
Figure 4: Overview of issue 1930-27(277). ... 32
Figure 5: Masthead of the literary magazine Niva, 1917 n°11. ... 33
Figure 6: Masthead of the newsmagazine The London Illustrated News, 1892 n°2789. ... 33
Figure 7: Masthead of the newsmagazine L'Illustration, 1918 n°3950. ... 34
Figure 8: Masthead of the magazine Veshch, 1922 n°3. ... 34
Figure 9: Overview of issue 1935-40(542). ... 35
Figure 10: Diagram displaying the relational structure of the Nodegoat database. ... 58
Figure 11: Pop-up displaying information on a selected issue. ... 60
Figure 12: Overview of a selected issue’s items. ... 61
Figure 13: Overview of all items in the Nodegoat database. ... 61
Figure 14: Form to enter a new item. ... 62
Figure 15: Overview of all contributors in the Nodegoat database. ... 64
Figure 16: Pop-up displaying information on a selected person. ... 64
Figure 17: Overview of a selected author's works. ... 65
Figure 18: Left: category consisting of one entity provided with a title, IR 1926- 4(37), p. 1. Right: Category consisting of one entity, without a title. IR 1926-37(70), p. 19. ... 67
Figure 19: Left: Category consisting of several entities without a title, IR 1926- 16(49), p. 11. Right: Category consisting of several entities with a title. IR1926-16(49), p. 18. ... 67
Figure 20: "Old Russia. Petersburg". IR 1925-8(17), p. 11. ... 122
Figure 21: "Old Russia. Moscow". IR 1925-9(18), p 8. ... 123
Figure 22: "Old Russia. Kiev". IR 1925-10(19), p. 11. ... 124
Figure 23: "Old Russia. Odessa". IR 1925-11(20), p. 9. ... 125
Figure 24: "Old Russia". IR 1925-12(21), p. 13. ... 126
Figure 25: "Old Russia (on the occasion of Tatyana Day). The Sukharev Tower in the 40s". IR 1929-5(194), cover. ... 127
Figure 26: "Petersburg forty years ago..." IR 1929-38(227), p. 70 ... 128
Figure 27: Illustration by V. Belkin for the story "Thing" by M. Osorgin. IR 1924-
4(4), p. 7. ... 128
Figure 28: “The graves of Russian soldiers in Belgium”. IR 1924-3(3), p. 12. ... 129
Figure 29: “Russian graves in France”. IR 1927-47(132), p. 7. ... 129
Figure 30: “For the faithful Russian Soldier”. IR 1928-51(188), p. 12. ... 130
Figure 31: “Russian Cossacks at the grave of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe”. IR 1930-38(279), p. 12-13. ... 131
Figure 32: "Tenth anniversary of the villainy of Ekaterinburg". IR 1928- 29(166), cover. ... 132
Figure 33: "Tenth anniversary of the villainy of Ekaterinburg". IR 1928- 29(166), p. 1. ... 133
Figure 34: "Before the storm". IR 1928-29(166), p. 2-3. ... 134
Figure 35: "Ipatyev house. The final act in the tragedy of Ekaterinburg". IR 1928-29(166), p. 5. ... 135
Figure 36: The first months of the Revolution. In Tsarskoye Selo, in Tobolsk..."
IR 1928-29(166), p. 4. ... 136
Figure 37: “Last portrait of the Tsar…”. IR 1930-29(270), cover. ... 137
Figure 38: "In an empty office". IR 1930-30(271), p. 2. ... 138
Figure 39: "Bedroom of the Tsarina." IR 1930-30(271), p. 4. ... 138
Figure 40: "On the last scrap of native land. Ten years ago…" IR 1930-48(289), cover. ... 139
Figure 41: “Fifteen years ago. Generalissimo Joffre awards Russian officers." IR 1931-3(296), cover. ... 140
Figure 42: "Marshal Joffre in Russia. At the maneuvers of the Russian army in the Highest presence, July 1913." IR 1931-4(297), cover. ... 141
Figure 43: "Meeting of gen. Joffre with Emperor Nikolay II in Russia, in July 1913". IR 1931-4(297), p. 6-7. ... 142
Figure 44: Pushkin issue, on the occasion of Day of the Russian culture. IR 1926-23(56), cover. ... 162
Figure 45: Pushkin issue, on the occasion of Day of the Russian culture. IR 1927-23(108), cover. ... 163
Figure 46: Pushkin issue, on the occasion of Day of the Russian culture. IR 1928-23(160), cover. ... 164
Figure 47: Pushkin issue, on the occasion of Day of the Russian culture. IR 1929-23(212), cover. ... 165
Figure 48: “‘Yevgeny Onegin’ in emigration”, by MAD. IR 1927-9(94), p. 3. ... 166
Figure 49: “’Yevgeny Onegin’ à la Soviet”, by MAD. IR 1929-23(212), p. 3. ... 167
Figure 50: “Pushkin's heroes, if they would live in our times”, by MAD. IR 1928- 23(160), p. 3. ... 168
Figure 51: Tolstoy issue on the occasion of the writer's centenary. IR 1928- 36(173), cover. ... 169
Figure 52: Chekhov issue on the occasion of the writer's tenth death anniversary. IR 1929-29(218), cover. ... 170
Figure 53: "Chekhov's plays", by MAD. IR 1929-29(218), p.3 ... 171
Figure 54: Tatyana Day issue. IR 1928-4(141), cover... 172
Figure 55: "The Russian church in Colombelles". IR 1927-3(88), p. 4. ... 195
Figure 56: "Russians in emigration. The Russian church in Ugine (Savoie)". IR
1928-16(153), p. 20. ... 195
Figure 57: "Russians in emigration. Consecration of the chapel in Chalon-sur- Saône". IR 1928-33(170), p. 22. ... 196
Figure 58: "The Orthodox cathedral in Tokyo". IR 1929-10(199), p. 4. ... 196
Figure 59: "The Russian cathedral in Rio". IR 1931-22(315), p. 14. ... 197
Figure 60: "Exit from the Russian church in Paris (in rue Daru)". IR 1924-2(2), p. 5. ... 197
Figure 61: "In Paris, in rue Daru". IR 1930-28(269), p. 5. ... 198
Figure 62: "Metropolitan Yevlogy". IR 1927-14(99), cover. ... 199
Figure 63: "Christmas Eve in Russia", by Ivan Bilibin. IR 1925-22(33), cover. ... 200
Figure 64:"Christmas", by Filipp Malyavin. IR 1927-52(137), cover. ... 201
Figure 65: "Easter festivities", by Filipp Malyavin. IR 1930-17(258), cover. ... 202
Figure 66: "Ded Moroz", by Ivan Bilibin. IR 1931-53(346), cover. ... 203
Figure 67: "Émigré, no matter in which corner of the earth fate has landed you, hold on strongly to your native customs!", by Pem. IR 1927- 16(101), cover. ... 204
Figure 68: Easter issue. By Ivan Bilibin. IR 1925-8(17), cover. ... 205
Figure 69: "The tale of Tsar Saltan", by Ivan Bilibin. IR 1928-52(189), cover. ... 206
Figure 70: "Easter in the old times." IR 1928-15(152), p. 5. ... 207
Figure 71: "Easter on the countryside." IR 1928-15(152), p. 7. ... 208
Figure 72: "Easter in old Russia". IR 1929-19(208), p. 5. ... 209
Figure 73: "Easter in former Russia". IR 1930-17(258), p. 5. ... 210
Figure 74: "In the Chudov monastery" by V. I. Shukhayev. IR 1927-52(137), p. 9. .. 211
Figure 75: "Tsarevich" by I. Ya. Bilibin. IR 1927-52(137), p. 10. ... 212
Figure 76: "Streltsy" by D. Stelletsky. IR 1927-52(137), p. 17. ... 213
Figure 77: "Old Petersburg. In antique engravings" IR 1927-52(137), p. 5. ... 214
Figure 78: "Old Moscow". IR 1927-52(137), p. 15. ... 215
Figure 79: "Christmas celebration in old times". IR 1927-52(137), p. 16. ... 216
Figure 80: "Christmas celebrations on Tsaritsinoy meadow (later Mars Field) in St. Petersburg." IR 1927-52(137), p. 25. ... 216
Figure 81: "Russian Easter traditions abroad", by MAD. IR 1927-16(101), p. 3. ... 217
Figure 82: "Traditional Christmas stories", by MAD. IR 1925-22(33), p. 3. ... 218
Figure 83: "Christmas stories in Paris". IR 1929-52(241), p. 3. ... 219
Figure 84: "Russian Christmas tree", by MAD. IR 1927-52(137), p. 3. ... 220
Figure 85: "Orthodox Easter in Paris". IR 1925-9(18), p. 2. ... 221
Figure 86: "The days before Easter in Paris". IR 1926-18(51), cover. ... 222
Figure 87: "Russian Easter in Paris." IR 1927-18(103), p. 5. ... 223
Figure 88: "Orthodox Easter in Paris". IR 1926-18(51), p. 2. ... 224
Figure 89: "Good Friday. The Holy Week in Paris." IR 1929-18(207), cover... 225
Figure 90: "Christmas party in the Sergiyevsky Compound in Paris." IR 1926- 7(40), p. 2. ... 226
Figure 91: "Russian Christmas party in Paris". IR 1927-3(88), p. 16-17. ... 227
Figure 92: "Russians in emigration. At a Christmas party in Nice". IR 1929- 6(195), p. 20. ... 228
Figure 94: "Russian writers abroad". IR 1924-2(2), p. 2. ... 261
Figure 95: "Russian writers abroad". IR 1924-2(2), p. 3. ... 261
Figure 96: "Russian writers abroad". IR 1924-3(3), p. 3. ... 262
Figure 97: "Russian writers abroad". IR 1924-7(7), p. 2. ... 262
Figure 98: "Our cartoons. I. A. Bunin" by Griffon. IR 1925-13(22), p. 15. ... 263
Figure 99: "Our cartoons. A I. Kuprin" by MAD. IR 1925-16(25), p. 15. ... 263
Figure 100: "Our cartoons. K. D. Balmont". IR 1925-17(26), p. 15. ... 264
Figure 101: "Our cartoons. D. S. Merezhkovsky". IR 1925-18(27), p. 15. ... 264
Figure 102: "Our cartoons. Z. N. Gippius". IR 1925-19(28), p. 15. ... 265
Figure 103: Example of the photo collage contest. IR 1927-44(129), p. 22. ... 265
Figure 104: "Contest of ten prominent émigrés". IR 1927-43(128), cover... 266
Figure 105: "Celebration of I. A. Bunin in London". IR 1925-6(15), p. 2. ... 267
Figure 106: "Pushkins heroes in Russian painting". IR 1928-23(160), p. 4. ... 267
Figure 107: "Repin's Pushkin". IR 1928-23(160), p. 6. ... 268
Figure 108: "Grand old men. Pavlov and Repin". IR 1929-35(224), cover. ... 269
Figure 109: "Ilya Repin is ill". IR 1930-35(276), cover. ... 270
Figure 110: "Repin in his coffin." IR 1930-43(284), cover. ... 271
Figure 111: Repin visited by, among others, L. N. Andreyev. 1924-5(5), p. 3. ... 272
Figure 112: "At Repin's house in 'Penaty'. The last portrait of the famous painter." IR 1929-13(202), p. 4. ... 272
Figure 113: "Russian art abroad. At the Parisian exhibitions. A. Lakhovsky and I. Gushchin". IR 1927-46(131), p. 13... 273
Figure 114: "Russian art abroad. At the exhibition of 'World of Art'". IR 1927- 25(110), p. 16-17. ... 274
Figure 115: "Russian art abroad. On the occasion of the exhibition of I. Ya. Bilibin in Prague". IR 1927-14(99), p. 15. ... 275
Figure 116: "At the exhibition of Konstantin Tereshkovich". IR 1927-19(104), p. 14-15. ... 276
Figure 117: "Russian art abroad. In the atelier of Aleksandr Yakovlev". IR 1927- 20(105), p. 14-15. ... 277
Figure 118: "Russian art abroad. 'Bretagne' by Boris Grigoryev". IR 1927- 32(117), p. 15. ... 278
Figure 119: "Russian art abroad. 'Capri' by A. Yakovlev. At the exhibition of A. Dyushen." IR 1927-28(113), p. 17. ... 279
Figure 120: Russian art Abroad. At the exhibitions of Z. E. Serebryakova and I. M. Chornyak. IR 1927-15(100), p. 14-15. ... 280
Figure 121: "Russian art abroad. The portraits of S. Sorin". IR 1927-34(119), p. 16-17. ... 281
Figure 122: "Russian art abroad. At F. A. Malyavin". IR 1926-52(85), p. 15. ... 282
Figure 123: Christmas issue with painting by F. Malyavin. IR 1930-52(293), cover. ... 283
Figure 124: New Year's issue with painting by F. Malyavin. IR 1931-1(294), cover. ... 284
Figure 125: "Russian porcelain". IR 1929-27(216), p. 7. ... 285
Figure 126: "Russian artists abroad. Anna Pavlova". IR 1928-9(146), cover. ... 286
Figure 127: "Russian artists abroad. Anna Pavlova". IR 1928-9(146), p. 11. ... 287
Figure 128: “Anna Pavlova – the pride of Russian ballet”. IR 1930-20(261), p.
261. ... 288
Figure 129: “The last days. On the occasion of the death of Anna Pavlova.” IR 1931-6(299), cover. ... 289
Figure 130: "Anna Pavlova in life and on scene. Unpublished photographs". IR 1931-6(299), p. 12-13. ... 290
Figure 131: "Jubilee of 'Letuchaya Mysh'". IR 1928-11(148), cover. ... 291
Figure 132: "Russian artists in Hollywood". IR 1928-27(164), p. 20. ... 292
Figure 133: "Mimics lesson..." IR 1928-51(188), cover. ... 293
Figure 134: "Greetings from across the ocean! Nikita Baliyev and Jackie Coogan". IR 1929-20(209), cover... 294
Figure 135: "F. Shalyapin. On the occasion of his concert today in Paris". IR 1930-23(264), cover. ... 295
Figure 136: "Shalyapin is a grandfather. At the baptism of his grandchild". IR 1930-43(232), cover. ... 296
Figure 137: Winter coats in "Parisian fashion". IR 1926-51(84), p. 21. ... 306
Figure 138: Evening gowns in "Parisian fashion". IR 1930-8(249), p. 19. ... 307
Figure 139: Hats in "Parisian fashion". IR 1927-11(96), p. 19. ... 308
Figure 140: "Children's fashion". IR 1927-48(133), p. 19 ... 309
Figure 141: "Men’s fashion". IR 1928-39(176), p. 23. ... 310
Figure 142: "Parisian fashion: In the Paris atelier of Anna Sergeyeva". IR 1928- 52(189), p. 24. ... 311
Figure 143: Advertisement for shoe store "Ramo" (by Rashkovsky). IR 1930- 44(285), p. 19. ... 311
Figure 144: Advertisement for men's clothing store "Michel" (by M. M. Chorny). IR 1931-7(300), p. 15. ... 311
Figure 145: “Parisian fashion. Russian fashion”. IR 1930-39(280), p. 19. ... 312
Figure 146: "A bit of cookery. Lentil burgers". IR 1929-15(204), p. 14. ... 313
Figure 147: "Mots croisés". IR 1929-30(219), p. 22. ... 313
Figure 148: "Mots croisés". IR 1929-19(208), p. 22. ... 314
Figure 149: "Mots croisés". IR 1928-1(138), p. 24. ... 314
Figure 150: "In leisure time". IR 1926-20(53), p. 22. ... 315
Figure 151: "In leisure time". IR 1927-25(110), p. 22. ... 316
Figure 152: "In leisure time". IR 1927-27(112), p. 22. ... 317
Figure 153: "Evenings with Grandfather Know-it-all". IR 1920-20(209), p. 19. ... 318
Figure 154: "Our Saturday people". IR 1930-41(282), p. 18. ... 319
Figure 155: Heading of the children's page. IR 1924-4(4), p. 14. ... 336
Figure 156: Heading of the children's page. IR 1925-22(31), p. 18. ... 336
Figure 157: Heading of the children's page. IR 1926-16(49), p. 16. ... 336
Figure 158: Illustration in the children's page. IR 1924-4(4), p. 14. ... 336
Figure 159: Illustrations in the children's page. IR 1924-5(5), p. 13. ... 337
Figure 160: Illustration in the children's page. IR 1925-20(29), p. 14. ... 337
Figure 161: Illustration in the children's page. IR 1926-14(47), p. 14. ... 337
Figure 162: Illustration in the children's page. IR 1925-23(32), p. 17. ... 338
Figure 163: Illustration in the children's page. IR 1926-15(48), p. 15. ... 338
Figure 164: "A. S. Pushkin. The poet during his childhood." IR 1925-11(20), p.
15. ... 338
Figure 165: "The unusual adventures of Bob", by Valentin Goryansky with illustrations by MAD. IR 1927-30(115), p. 18. ... 343
Figure 166: Comic strip "Ah our Peka! Not dumber than a man!" IR 1929- 22(211), p. 19. ... 344
Figure 167: Comic strip “Dyadya Puma”. IR 1929-37(226), p. 23. ... 345
Figure 168: Indication of 'New York World 1929' in the comic Dyadya Puma. IR 1929-30(219), p. 21. ... 346
Figure 169: Signature of 'Vic', i.e. Victor Forsythe, in the comic Dyadya Puma. IR 1929-26(215), p. 20. ... 346
Figure 170: Episode of 'Joe Jinks' by Vic Forsythe, 1929. ... 346
Figure 171: Signature of F. B. Opper in comic strip 'Ah our Peka. Not dumber than a man". IR 1929-38(227), p. 21. ... 347
Figure 172: Episode of "And her name was Maud" by F. B. Opper, 1930. ... 347
Figure 173: For comparison: Peka in IR 1929-28(217). ... 348
Figure 174: For comparison: Peka in IR 1930-5(246). ... 348
Figure 175: Dyadya Martin is reading a copy of IR. IR 1930-16(257), p. 19. ... 348
Figure 176: "Russian tobacco saves navigator Vaksa". IR 1930-41(282), p. 21. ... 349
Figure 177: "The editorial office is moving." IR 1932-46(392), p. 23. ... 350
Figure 178: Christmas issue. IR 1932-52(398), cover. ... 351
Figure 179: "Easter night in the forest". IR 1932-18(364), p. 12-13. ... 352
Figure 180: "Christmas party at Peka’s and Yambo's". IR 1932-52(398), p. 23. ... 353
Figure 181: "Christ is Risen!", by Miss (pseudonym of Anna Remizova- Vasilyeva). IR 1933-16(414), p. 14. ... 354
Figure 182: "Sleighing from mountains", based on a painting by S. Sudelkin. IR 1933-52(450), p. 21. ... 355
Figure 183: "Russian province", based on a painting by Boris Kustodiyev. IR 1936-16(570), p. 19. ... 356
Figure 184: "On the swing", based on a painting by A. Stepanov. IR 1937-1(607), p. 19. ... 357
Figure 185: “Katyusha laughs”. Children in emigration contest. IR 1929-7(196), cover. ... 375
Figure 186: “First candidates”. Children in emigration contest. IR 1929-7(196), p. 9. ... 376
Figure 187: “Some portraits on the occasion of the contest of the most beautiful reader of IR”. IR 1930-19(260), cover. ... 377
Figure 188: “Contest of the most beautiful reader of IR”. IR 1930-19(260), p. 9. ... 378
Figure 189: Excerpt from “Russian men’s fashion”, by MAD. IR 1926-38(71), p. 3. ... 398
Figure 190: “In days of unemployment. Refugees in Paris”. IR 1927-5(90), cover. ... 399
Figure 191: “Refugees in Paris. In days of unemployment”. IR 1927-5(90), p. 6- 7. ... 400
Figure 192: "Visiting 'Hungry Friday'. The children's shelter in Montmorency". IR 1929-15(204), p. 15. ... 401
Figure 193: "Russian children in emigration". IR 1927-19(104), p. 21. ... 402
Figure 194: "Russian children in emigration". IR 1931-27(320), p. 21. ... 402
Figure 195: “Celebration of Russian children in Paris". IR 1926-10(43), p. 12. ... 403
Figure 196: "Children's celebration in the Sergiyevsky Compound in Paris". IR 1926-24(57), p. 4. ... 403
Figure 197: "Russian children at the ocean". IR 1926-36(69), p. 17. ... 404
Figure 198: "Russian children in emigration. Brigade of boy scouts in Montargis". IR 1928-35(172), p. 22. ... 404
Figure 199: "Russian children in emigration. In the summer colony of the Association of zemstvo and city leaders". IR 1929-36(225), p. 13. ... 405
Figure 200: First appearance of Pochtovy yashchik in Zhenskaya stranichka. IR 1930-11(23), p. 18. ... 406
Figure 201: Pochtovy yashchik as a separate section. IR 1930-13(25), p. 18. ... 407
Figure 202: "Queen of the Russian colony in Paris". IR 1925-22(31), cover. ... 416
Figure 203: "Mi-Carème in Paris". IR 1926-12(45), cover. ... 417
Figure 204: "Mi-Carème in Paris". IR 1926-12(45), p. 5. ... 418
Figure 205: "Miss Russia 1929". IR 1929-6(195), cover. ... 419
Figure 206: "Miss Russia 1930". IR 1930-6(247), cover. ... 420
Figure 207: "Miss Russia 1931". IR 1931-7(300), cover. ... 421
Figure 208: "'Miss Russia' in Nice". IR 1932-8(354), cover... 422
Figure 209: "Miss Russia 1936". IR 1936-24(578), cover. ... 423
Figure 210: "An instructive émigré story", by MAD. IR 1927-30(115), p. 3. ... 436
Figure 211: "What will become of Paris", by MAD. IR 1929-4(193), p. 3. ... 437
Figure 212: "Conversation in a Russian restaurant", by MAD. IR 1929-42(231), p. 3. ... 438
Figure 213: "On the intricacies of the French language", by MAD. IR 1930- 27(268), ... 439
Figure 214: "In the streets of Petrograd". IR 1924-2(2), p. 12. ... 453
Figure 215: “In the underbelly of Moscow”. IR 1926-8(41), p. 8. ... 454
Figure 216: "What a foreigner saw in Russia". IR 1930-42(283), p. 5. ... 455
Figure 217: "Unemployment in Moscow". IR 1925-14(23), p. 5. ... 456
Figure 218: "Unemployment in Soviet Russia". IR 1927-20(105), p. 11. ... 456
Figure 219: "At the labor exchange in Moscow". IR 1926-25(58). ... 457
Figure 220: "In the realm of ‘socialism’ – searching for work". IR 1926-47(80), cover. ... 458
Figure 221: "At the 'drunken' front". IR 1926-7(40), p. 7. ... 459
Figure 222: "Alcoholism in Soviet Russia". IR 1926-45(78), p. 5. ... 460
Figure 223: "At the police station in Moscow. The police station during the morning hours. Interrogation of people detained for drunkenness during a night raid”. IR 1926-46(79), cover. ... 461
Figure 224: “At the ‘drunken’ front”. IR 1928-27(164), p. 17. ... 462
Figure 225: "Soviet ‘jail’". IR 1929-40(229), p. 9. ... 463
Figure 226: "In Russia they drink..." IR 1929-45(234), p. 5. ... 464
Figure 227: “The Bolsheviks’ right hand knows what the left hand does”. IR 1929-25(214), p. 9. ... 465
Figure 228: “Binge, chubarovism, absenteeism… The Komsomol life”. IR 1929-
15(204), cover. ... 466
Figure 229: “Komsomol at the factory”. IR 1929-15(204), p. 3. ... 467
Figure 230: “Hooliganism in Soviet Russia”. IR 1926-46(79), p. 8-9. ... 498
Figure 231: “Statistics of hooliganism”. IR 1926-46(79), p. 10. ... 499
Figure 232: “Staged justice. The trial of the ‘Mensheviks’ in Moscow”. IR 1931- 13(306), cover. ... 500
Figure 233: “How they repented”. IR 1931-16(309), p. 5. ... 501
Figure 234: "Selling church valuables". IR 1925-11(20), p. 6. ... 545
Figure 235: "The war on religion". IR 1925-10(19), p. 10. ... 545
Figure 236: "The Strastnoy monastery as atheist museum". IR 1928-43(180), p. 11. ... 546
Figure 237: "The Strastnoy monastery as atheist club". IR 1928-51(188), p. 10. ... 546
Figure 238: "Cinema in a monastery". IR 1929-18(207), p. 13. ... 547
Figure 239: "Cathedral as factory". IR 1929-51(240), p. 2. ... 547
Figure 240: "Blasphemous shooting". IR 1930-10(251), p. 7. ... 548
Figure 241: "The lie is the opium of the people". IR 1926-38(71), cover. ... 549
Figure 242: "Unnecessary barbarism". IR 1929-33(222), p. 11. ... 550
Figure 243: "In conquered Russia". IR 1929-35(224), p. 11. ... 551
Figure 244: "'Atheist' chastushki". IR 1930-34(275), p. 2. ... 551
Figure 245: "Antireligious lubok". IR 1930-15(256), p. 9. ... 552
Figure 246: "Red Twelvetide. How they celebrated Christmas in Moscow”. IR 1929-8(197), p. 5. ... 553
Figure 247: "Christmas in Soviet Russia". IR 1927-4(89), p. 6-7. ... 554
Figure 248: "Easter under pseudonym. 'Spring holiday' in Moscow". IR 1929- 22(211), cover. ... 555
Figure 249: "In Moscow, during the Holy week". IR 1930-18(259), cover. ... 556
Figure 250: "In Russia, during Lent". 1930-18(259), p. 5. ... 557
Figure 251: "Children in Soviet Russia. Those without supervision... and those under supervision". IR 1929-42(231), p. 11. ... 558
Figure 252: "In the outskirts of Moscow". IR 1924-1(1), p. 10-11... 559
Figure 253: "In Moscow the frost came". IR 1930-46(287), cover. ... 560
Figure 254: "Besprizornye in Soviet Russia". IR 1927-31(116), p. 21. ... 561
Figure 255: "Child-cocaine addicts". IR 1926-47(80), p. 5. ... 562
Figure 256: "On Christmas Eve. Besprizorny Moscow". IR 1928-1(138), p. 5. ... 563
Figure 257: "Hungry, homeless... Besprizornye children in Moscow". IR 1928- 28(165), cover. ... 564
Figure 258: "They have caught a besprizornik!" IR 1929-10(199), cover. ... 565
Figure 259: "Besprizornye are the scourge and shame of Soviet Russia". IR 1929-24(213), p.7. ... 566
Figure 260: "Child-criminals". IR 1926-13(46), p. 5. ... 567
Figure 261: "How they disfigure the children’s souls". IR 1930-25(266), p. 5. ... 568
Figure 262: "'Octobering' in Soviet Russia". IR 1924-1(1), p. 13. ... 569
Figure 263: "Soviet school". IR 1926-26(59), p. 6. ... 569
Figure 264: "What do Soviet children play..." IR 1928-39(176), p. 6. ... 570
Figure 266: "May 1 in Moscow. Children's rally". IR 1928-20(157), cover. ... 572
Figure 267: "Unfortunate children". IR 1926-10(43), p. 9. ... 573
Figure 268: "Comprachicos". IR 1929-25(214), p. 10. ... 573
Figure 269: "Poor children... Children's manifestation on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Soviet constitution". IR 1928-33(170), p. 17. ... 574
Figure 270: "Replenishment of the Komsomol". IR 1926-42(75), p. 8. ... 574
Figure 271: "Far away from the Komsomol". IR 1926-35(68), p. 12. ... 575
Figure 272: "Poor children". IR 1927-18(103), p. 18. ... 575
Figure 273: "The campaign against religion continues". IR 1930-13(254), p. 4. ... 576
Figure 274: "Corrupters of the soul". IR 1930-10(251), p. 5. ... 577
Figure 275: "Komsomol Christmas". IR 1929-6(195), p. 5. ... 578
Figure 276: "Soviet 'anti-Christmas'". IR 1931-2(295), cover. ... 579
Figure 277: "Processions, processions..." IR 1930-18(259), p. 2. ... 580
Figure 278: "The perishment of monuments of Russian antiquity". IR 1927- 27(112), cover. ... 581
Figure 279: "The last days of the Red Gate". IR 1927-35(120), p. 2. ... 582
Figure 280: "What is left of the Red Gate". IR 1927-36(121), p. 6. ... 582
Figure 281: "Russian Riviera. In Crimea". IR 1927-32(117), p. 2 ... 583
Figure 282: “In contemporary Russia. Remnants of the past: Petergof”. IR 1927- 38(123), p. 5. ... 584
Figure 283: “In contemporary Russia. Remnants of the past”. IR 1927-38(123), p.5. ... 585
Figure 284: “The rout of the Hermitage. The Bolsheviks sell paintings of famous masters". IR 1930-41(282), p. 12-13. ... 586
Figure 285: "Day of the Russian culture in the USSR", by P. Kandaurov. IR 1926- 23(56), p. 3. ... 587
Figure 286: "Celebration of Tolstoy in the USSR", by MAD. IR 1928-36(173), p. 3. ... 588
Figure 287: "New art. A true incident", by M. Linsky. IR 1926-3(36), p. 3. ... 589
Figure 288: "Art in the USSR", by MAD. IR 1929-26(215), p. 3. ... 590
Figure 289: "Soviet painting", by MAD. IR 1931-13(), p. 3. ... 591
Figure 290: “New life”. IR 1931-9(302), p. 6. ... 592
Figure 291: "Soviet culture", by MAD. IR 1930-24(265), p. 3. ... 593
Figure 292: "Instead of bread – a spectacle. Agit-theatre 'Grain famers' on tour in the countryside". IR 1929-7(196), p. 6. ... 594
Figure 293: "Soviet farce." IR 1930-43(284), p. 5. ... 594
Figure 294: "'Our accomplishments'. 'Sov-girls' and 'Sov-barefoot' in Moscow". IR 1929-1(190), p. 2. ... 595
Figure 295: "After Amanullah, Gorky". IR 1928-25(162), p. 7. ... 595
Figure 296: “'An evening in Sorrento.' Gorky rests". IR 1928-50(187), p. 12. ... 596
Figure 297: “The Bolsheviks’ slogans”, by MAD. IR 1925-17(26), p. 3. ... 611
Figure 298: "'In the thirteenth year.' Moscow in October 1929". IR 1929- 47(236), p. 6-7. ... 612
Figure 299: "How they feed foreigners in Moscow. During the days of hunger and collapse..." IR 1930-50(291), cover. ... 613
Figure 300: “Queues in Moscow”. IR 1927-45(130), cover. ... 614
Figure 301: "Masked queues". IR 1931-3(296), p. 5. ... 615
Figure 302: "Face to Europe". IR 1929-26(215), p. 8. ... 616
Figure 303: "The face of Soviet life and what lies behind". IR 1931-28(321), p. 5. ... 617
Figure 304: "Accomplishments of the USSR." MAD, IR 1927-28(113), p. 3. ... 618
Figure 305: “The USSR and England”. MAD, IR 1927-15(100), p. 5. ... 619
Figure 306: “Decorative arts in the USSR”. MAD, IR 1925-13(22), cover. ... 620
Figure 307: "We are building a new life!" IR 1927-50(135), p. 5... 621
Figure 308: “The five-year plan”, by MAD. IR 1931-5(298), p. 3. ... 622
Figure 309: "Behind the scenes of the 'five-year plan'" IR 1930-51(292), p. 5. ... 623
Figure 310: “Tractors are sorrow”. IR 1926-35(68), p. 19. ... 624
Figure 311: "In borrowed plumes". IR 1930-29(270), p. 6. ... 624
Figure 312: "The tractor is standing still!" IR 1930-48(289), p. 4. ... 625
Figure 313: "In the era of 'tractorization'". IR 1931-13(306), p. 4. ... 625
Figure 314: “On the banks of Petersburg”. IR 1926-40(73), cover. ... 626
Figure 315: "Factory breakfast". IR 1926-30(63), p. 2. ... 627
Figure 316: "Bal in the Soviet embassy in Paris", by Pem. IR 1926-5(38), cover. ... 628
Figure 317: "Reception at the Soviet embassy", by Belkin. IR 1925-9(18), cover. .... 629
Figure 318: "Chicherin at the Riviera", by Pem. IR 1927-21(106), cover. ... 630
Figure 319: "The new aristocracy of the USSR", by Belkin, IR 1925-21(30), cover. ... 631
Figure 320: "Soviet diplomats in Persia". IR 1927-49(134), p. 6. ... 632
Figure 321: "The woman in Soviet life. The wife of a worker... and the wife of a minister". IR 1928-13(150), p. 4-5. ... 633
Figure 322: "In the tsarist box. Stalin and those close to him". IR 1930-1(242), p. 4. ... 634
Figure 323: "In the tsarist box. Amanullah at the race of the 'Afghan' price in Moscow”. IR 1928-23(160), p. 9. ... 635
Figure 324: "In the city and the world. A game of tennis: king Amanullah – comrade Karakhan". IR 1928-26(163), p. 2. ... 635
Figure 325: "Soviet calendar", by MAD. IR 1925-7(16), cover. ... 647
Figure 326: “Eighth anniversary of October", by MAD. IR 1925-20(29), cover. ... 648
Figure 327: "Longing for Russia", by MAD. IR 1927-12(97), p. 3. ... 649
Figure 328: "Special October issue", by Pem. IR 1927-44(129), cover. ... 650
Figure 329: "Ryazan women". IR 1930-30(271), p. 6. ... 651
Figure 330: "Shrovetide in the Russian countryside". IR 1926-9(42), p. 2. ... 651
Figure 331: "In the contemporary Russian countryside". IR 1927-14(99), p. 2. ... 652
Figure 332: "At the 'grain collecting front'". IR 1928-26(163), p. 17. ... 652
Figure 333: "While they export grain from Russia..." IR 1930-45(286), p. 5. ... 653
Figure 334: “Who is guilty?”, by MAD. IR 1928-51(188), p. 3. ... 654
Figure 335: "Soviet 'dumping'". IR 1931-11(304), cover. ... 655
Figure 336: "In the country exporting its own grain". IR 1931-12(305), cover. ... 656
Figure 337: "In the volost court. A new attack on the 'kulaks'". IR 1928-17(154), cover. ... 657
Figure 338: "The 'kulak' in Soviet images". IR 1930-23(264), p. 5. ... 658
Figure 339: "Scene and life", by Viktor Ardov and illustrated by A. L. IR 1928-
26(163), p. 6. ... 678
Figure 340: Illustration from "A dog's history". IR 1928-17(154), p. 12. ... 679
Figure 341: Illustration from "Little son". IR 1928-22(159), p .4. ... 679
Figure 342: "We live in 1930..." IR 1930-41(282), p. 16-17. ... 732
Figure 343: "Skyscraper". IR 1928-46(183), p. 15. ... 733
Figure 344: "King of the skyscrapers". IR 1929-25(214), p. 11. ... 733
Figure 345: "Electrical human. The 'televox' of engineer Wensley". IR 1928- 34(171), p. 21. ... 734
Figure 346: "Robots. Artificial people and humanoid machines". IR 1930- 5(246), p. 15. ... 735
Figure 347: "Unfulfilled dreams". IR 1930-17(258), p. 8. ... 736
Figure 348: "Inventions humanity is waiting for". IR 1930-21(262), p. 12-13. ... 737
Figure 349: "The flight Paris-Moscow". IR 1925-2(11), cover. ... 738
Figure 350: "Victim of speed". IR 1928-22(159), p. 18. ... 739
Figure 351: "What the future war is threatening with..." IR 1928-25(162), p. 17. ... 739
Figure 352: "Ghost of the future wars". IR 1928-27(164), p. 21. ... 740
Figure 353: "Vision of the future. What the coming war promises us..." IR 1931- 11(304), p. 15. ... 740
Figure 354: "Vision of the future. The horrors of a gas war…" IR 1930-12(253), p. 67. ... 741
Figure 355: “American fashionistas”. IR 1928-10(147), p. 14-15. ... 742
Figure 356: "Fashion... the American way". IR 1929-3(192), p. 15. ... 743
Figure 357: "Women and their companions". IR 1930-40(281), p. 12-13. ... 744
Figure 358: "A game with death". IR 1929-44(233), p. 12-13. ... 745
Figure 359: "Fakirs are the monks of India". IR 1930-20(161), p. 14-15. ... 746
Figure 360: “In Paris, at night… ‘Hands in the air!’” IR 1930-32(273), cover. ... 747
Figure 361: “Night raid”. IR 1929-34(275), p. 10-11. ... 748
Figure 362: “Paris at night”. IR 1930-32(273), p. 6-7. ... 749
Figure 363: “Al Capone, King of bandits. Overseas mores”. IR 1931-12(305), p. 9. ... 750
Figure 364: “Mozzhukhin is dead, long live Moskin!” IR 1927-12(97), p. 9. ... 751
Figure 365: “Mozzhukhin in America”. IR 1927-50(135), p. 19. ... 751
Figure 366: “French film on Russian life”, by MAD. IR 1928-14(151), p. 3. ... 752
Figure 367: “The horrors of the Revolution”, by MAD. IR 1926-45(78), p. 3... 753
Figure 368: “Screen and life”, by MAD. IR 1928-11(148), p. 3. ... 754
Figure 369: Advertisement for the film “Nostalgie / Toska po rodine”. IR 1928- 17(154), p. 22. ... 755
Figure 370: “Why are they not giving émigrés visa?”, by MAD. IR 1927-37(122), p. 3. ... 756
Figure 371: “Europe and the Bolsheviks”, by MAD. IR 1927-25(110), p. 11. ... 757
Figure 372: “Foreign bourgeois and Russian Bolsheviks”. IR 1927-21(106), p. 3. ... 758
Figure 373: “Russian oil in danger!” IR 1928-31(168), cover. ... 759
Figure 374: “Money does not smell?” by MAD. IR 1928-31(168), p. 3. ... 760
Figure 375: “Alarm in the League of Nations”, by MAD. IR 1929-48(237), p. 3. ... 761
Figure 377: "Against the Bolshevik atrocities". IR 1930-3(244), cover. ... 763 Figure 378: “The ambassador as hostage!” IR 1930-16(257), cover. ... 764
Summary
This dissertation studies the popular émigré newsmagazine Illustrated Russia (Illyustrirovannaya Rossiya, henceforth IR) in order to verify whether mainstream, everyday Russian émigré culture in the interwar period was preservationist and prerevolutionary oriented, as is often claimed for its so-called high culture counterpart. There has been quite some research on high émigré culture displaying an inclination to prerevolutionary Russian themes and styles, but there has never been any similar research for more middlebrow and mainstream, everyday culture in the Russian emigration.
IR is the ideal test case for this question, for various reasons. IR was one of the largest and most widespread newsmagazines in the Russian interwar emigration.
Published in Paris from 1924 until 1939, no less than 748 issues came out.
Furthermore, IR was widely read among Russian émigrés, also beyond Europe. While its primary public was the Russian émigré community, the newsmagazine did not limit itself to émigré culture alone: the West, Soviet Russia and prerevolutionary Russia received attention as well. The magazine offered a diverse mix of both highbrow and middlebrow materials and treated a wide array of topics. IR, thus, is a unique time document, offering significant insight into the surroundings of the average Russian émigré, and as such, it is invaluable for our understanding of everyday life and culture in the Russian emigration during the interwar period.
This research has allowed to conclude that IR indeed displays preservationism, but that there are varying forms, which do not always manifest themselves at the same times or to the same extent. Preservationism in its most common form in émigré studies, i.e. preserving and commemorating an idealized image of prerevolutionary Russia through material and creative culture, is present in IR only to a very limited extent and solely on particular occasions. Instead, IR is much more frequently and actively concerned with preserving prerevolutionary Russia’s moral standards, something which is manifested most clearly in the unity and mutual support of the émigré community.
Samenvatting
Dit proefschrift bestudeert aan de hand van het populaire emigrantenmagazine Illustrated Russia (Illyustrirovannaya Rossiya, voortaan IR) of de alledaagse Russische emigratiecultuur in het interbellum preservationistisch en prerevolutionair georiënteerd was, zoals vaak wordt beweerd voor de zogeheten high culture tegenpool. Er is al heel wat onderzoek gevoerd naar de high emigratiecultuur die inderdaad een voorkeur vertoont voor prerevolutionaire Russische thema's en stijlen, maar er is nooit soortgelijk onderzoek gevoerd naar meer middlebrow, alledaagse cultuur in de Russische emigratie.
IR is de ideale testcase hiervoor, en dit om verschillende redenen. IR was één van de grootste en meest verspreide nieuwsmagazines in de Russische emigratie van het interbellum. IR werd uitgegeven in Parijs van 1924 tot 1939 en er zijn maar liefst 748 nummers verschenen. IR werd veel gelezen onder Russische emigranten, tot ver buiten Europa. Het voornaamste publiek was de Russische emigratiegemeenschap, maar het nieuwsmagazine beperkte zich niet tot de emigratiecultuur: ook het Westen en Sovjet-Rusland, evenals prerevolutionair Rusland, kregen aandacht. Het magazine bood een diverse mix van zowel highbrow als middlebrow materialen en behandelde een breed scala aan onderwerpen. IR is dus een uniek tijdsdocument dat veel inzicht biedt in de leefwereld van de gemiddelde Russische emigrant, en is op die manier van onschatbare waarde voor ons begrip van het dagelijkse leven en de cultuur van de Russische emigratie tijdens het interbellum.
Dit onderzoek laat toe te concluderen dat IR inderdaad preservationisme vertoont, maar dat er verschillende vormen zijn die zich niet altijd op dezelfde momenten of in dezelfde mate manifesteren. Preservationisme in zijn meest voorkomende vorm in emigratiestudies, namelijk het bewaren en herdenken van een geïdealiseerd beeld van prerevolutionair Rusland via materiële en creatieve cultuur, is in IR slechts in zeer beperkte mate aanwezig en bijna uitsluitend op bijzondere gelegenheden. In plaats daarvan zet IR veel meer en actiever in op het bewaren van de morele normen en waarden van prerevolutionair Rusland, iets wat het duidelijkst tot uiting komt in de eenheid van en wederzijdse steun binnen de emigratiegemeenschap.
Table of contents
Acknowledgments ... v List of figures ... vii Summary ... xix Samenvatting ... xxi Introduction ... 1 Illustrating Illustrated Russia ... 29 The digital component ... 55
Part 1 Experiencing Russia abroad ... 81 Chapter 1 Curating prerevolutionary Russia ... 83
1.1 Curating the historical canon... 85 1.1.1Russia ... 86 1.1.2The world and, in particular, France ... 114 Figures for 1.1 ... 122 1.2 Curating the cultural canon ... 143 Figures for 1.2 ... 162
Chapter 2 Continuing prerevolutionary Russia ... 173
2.1 Russian Orthodoxy ... 174 2.1.1Religion throughout the year ... 174 2.1.2Christmas and Easter ... 184 Figures for 2.1 ... 195 2.2 Émigré arts and literature ... 229
2.2.1Literature ... 230 2.2.2Painting ... 240 2.2.3Theatre and performance ... 250 Figures for 2.2 ... 260 2.3 What is not continued in emigration (but easily could have
been)... 297 2.3.1Parizhskye mody ... 297 2.3.2Cooking ... 299 2.3.3Riddles and games ... 301 Figures for 2.3 ... 306
Chapter 3 Passing on prerevolutionary Russia ... 321
3.1 Stranichka dlya detey under Chorny ... 324 Figures for 3.1 ... 336 3.2 Stranichka dlya detey after Chorny’s departure ... 339 Figures for 3.2 ... 343
Part 2 Building Russia Abroad / serving Russia abroad ... 359 Chapter 4 The émigré community ... 361 4.1 “Serving the motherland is not necessarily linked to work at
the front” ... 363 4.1.1Nashi otvety ... 365 4.1.2Koe-chto, koe o chem ... 368 Figures for 4.1 ... 375 4.2 Charity and solidarity ... 379 4.2.1Russian invalids and the unemployed ... 381 4.2.2Children ... 385 4.2.3Solidarity in Zhenskaya stranichka ... 392 Figures for 4.2 ... 398 4.3 Miss Russia ... 408 Figures for 4.3 ... 416 4.4 The émigré balancing act ... 424 Figures for 4.4 ... 436
Chapter 5 The other as the mirror and measure of émigré morality ... 441
5.1 Soviet Russia ... 442 5.1.1A society in decay ... 443 5.1.2Criminality as a moral barometer ... 468 5.1.3Communicating vessels... 502 5.1.4Exposing Soviet hypocrisy ... 597 5.1.5The Soviet people are victims, too ... 636 5.1.6“From Soviet life” ... 659 5.2 The West ... 680 5.2.1 The Roaring Twenties ... 681 5.2.2Host country or hostile country? ... 703 Figures for 5.2 ... 732
Conclusion ... 765 Bibliography ... 771
Introduction
Exactly thirty years ago, Marc Raeff published his seminal work Russia Abroad: A Cultural History of the Russian Emigration, 1919-1939 (1990), the first comprehensive cultural history of the interwar Russian emigration. In this monograph, Raeff provides
“the institutional and intellectual context of life in Russia Abroad” (idem: 14), through chapters focusing, among other things, on children and education, religion, and history in emigration. In doing so, Raeff portrays the interwar emigration as a society who
“firmly believed that one of [its] primary tasks in exile was to preserve, carry on, and create Russian culture” (idem: 96), notably that of prerevolutionary Russia. Put differently, Raeff characterizes the interwar emigration as preservationist, considering that preserving, carrying on and creating Russian culture can all be regarded as manifestations of preservationism, of which the former two are more passive forms while the latter is more active form (cf. infra). As Raeff highlights the fact that émigré identity above all positions itself vis-à-vis prerevolutionary Russia, he thus considers preservationism a key factor in the formation of émigré identity. There are two very good arguments that corroborate Raeff’s claim: the general diasporic nature of the Russian émigré community, and the specific context of the Russian interwar emigration.
The diasporic nature of Russia Abroad
The 1917 October Revolution and the ensuing Russian Civil War (1918-1922) caused an enormous wave of emigration. More than a million, mostly well-educated Russian citizens fled their motherland – now under Bolshevik control – in search of a less hostile place to live. The large majority of the Russian interwar emigration – also known as ‘Russia in exile’, or ‘The First Wave’ – settled in Europe, while others found a new home in China, North and South America, and Africa. While the Russian emigration’s separate members, especially those who emigrated at a young age, tried to integrate into or even assimilated with the culture of their respective host countries,
the émigré community as a whole led its own social, political and cultural life – a situation that would last until World War II. What is more, the Russian interwar émigré community’s cultural output reached exceptionally high levels in terms of quality, quantity and diversity. All kinds of organizations took care of community life;
an enormous number of newspapers and periodicals was published; numerous political, historical, philosophical writings found their way to the presses, as did prerevolutionary and contemporary (i.e. first and foremost émigré, but also Soviet) literature; visual arts, sculpture, music and theater flourished.
In diasporic communities, such as the Russian interwar emigration, identity tends to be a most important, even quintessential issue. Wedged between the (mental) home country on the one hand, and the (physical) host country on the other, diasporic communities are challenged to position themselves vis-à-vis those two worlds (and, possibly, vis-à-vis other worlds, as well – more on that below). Most often, diasporic communities aspire to retain their own identity – or at least what they perceive as their own identity, or come to perceive as such once in emigration – and, hence, to safeguard the bonds with the home country. This is done most easily through culture in the broadest sense of the word, from language to literature, from music to visual arts etc. Being immersed in a foreign culture, émigrés thus may stress – whether or not consciously, purposefully or organically – exactly those characteristics which they consider ‘typical’ of or intrinsic to their home culture. However, there is an inherent risk to this practice. Not seldom this comes with downsizing or overstressing specific aspects, or even inventing them.
In the case of Russian culture, which since Chaadayev has been torn between East and West and is now relocated to the context of the Western host countries, there is a specific risk of what could be called ‘self-orientalization’. This tendency goes hand in hand with the perception of Russian identity by the Western host countries. At the turn of the century, among Westerners a peculiar image of ‘the Russian’ had formed that is reminiscent of what Edward Said had coined ‘orientalism’ in 1978 – a prejudiced and patronizing view of the ‘superior’, ‘developed’, ‘flexible’, ‘rational’ West on the ‘inferior’, ‘un(der)developed’, ‘static’ Orient. As Maria Todorova has shown, Said’s concept can also be applied to other non-Western cultures, such as the Balkans (1997) – or Russia, for that matter. This orientalist image of ‘the Russian’ was partly the result of cultural export products. Think of the highly emotional, non-rational Russians in Dostoyevsky; the gloomy and indecisive Russians in Chekhov; or the exotic, eastern-like or gypsy-like Russians in Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (see, for example Krauss & Victoroff 2012; Bullock & Beasly 2013). The dominant Russian émigré approach to identity may tend to do something very similar. By emphasizing or maximizing ‘typically Russian’ elements and nullifying or downsizing ‘not truly Russian’ elements in order to meet the community’s aspirations, there is the risk that
a biased, even patronizing view on Russian culture may arise which stresses the non- westernness or even un(der)developedness and static nature of Russian culture and, hence, identity.
The specific context of Russia Abroad
A second, and even more important argument corroborating Raeff’s claim is the specific context of the Russian emigration. In this context, as has been argued convincingly by Raeff, the mainstream émigré attitude went further than just an enhanced attention for all ‘things Russian’. The Russian home culture, Raeff posits, was not just far away, it was actually perceived to be ‘lost’. Bolshevism opposed much of what constituted prerevolutionary Russian society, culture and identity, and very quickly started the creation of a distinct ‘counterculture’, aimed at eradicating everything prerevolutionary or ‘genuinely Russian’, to use Raeff’s terminology. As a reaction, Raeff posits, the émigré community aspired to preserve for future generations what it considered the prerevolutionary ‘home culture’ and the carrier of the ‘truly’ Russian identity:
The Russians who sought refuge abroad and decided to stay in exile, rather than return to a Russia ruled by Bolsheviks, did so not only out of consideration of personal safety […] but mainly because their homeland no longer conformed to their idea of what Russia should be. If they remained in exile and established a Russia Abroad, it was to preserve and pass on to their children their own notion of what constituted genuine Russian culture (1990: 47).
Furthermore, Raeff indicates, the émigrés lived in the “expectation of returning home when the hated system would end” (idem: 16). As such, preserving and carrying on the “genuine Russian culture” became one of the emigration’s raisons d’être.
Approaches to/attitudes in émigré identity formation
The combination of an enhanced attention to ‘Russianness’ and the wish to preserve Russian culture and identity, whether or not accompanied by a possible tendency toward self-orientalization, did have a considerable effect on the cultural production of the émigré community. In literature, for example, a whole ‘nostalgia industry’
developed, in which life in prerevolutionary Russia became a central and even sacred theme (Tihanov 2011: 336). A good example of this are the works by Ivan Bunin,
especially his most renowned novel The Life of Arsenyev (Zhizn Arsenyeva, 1927 ff.), known for its numerous and elaborate musings on prerevolutionary Russian life and landscapes. At the same time modernity – i.e. life after the Revolution and life in the Western world – hardly received any attention in émigré literature, and if so, then most often not in positive terms (Foster 1972; Dhooge 2017). Furthermore, norm- breaking and abstractionist Avant-Garde painters and artists – who by the emigrants often were perceived as admirers of the radical changes in Bolshevik Russia – were largely ignored in art journals, while more traditionalist Modernist, neo-Romantic and neo-Classicist artists who focused on Russian subjects (history, folklore, landscapes) were in the spotlights more, as shows the art journal Firebird (Zhar-Ptitsa, 1921-1926;
Marten-Finnis 2012). Even the 19th-century Realist painters who decided to focus on Russian instead of Western themes as was fashionable in the 18th and early 19th century, received attention again in the émigré art journals (Marten-Finnis 2012).
In terms of self-orientalization, the most obvious example is the aforementioned art journal Firebird. Each issue of the journal contained an appendix consisting of translations of a selection of original articles. The selection made by the publishing house, however, varied with each target culture. For German readers, the editor singled out the philosophical and religious nature of Russian art, while for the English public, he put the emphasis on the exotic and fairytale-like Russian life (Dhooge 2013).
Of course, this was first and foremost a selling strategy: by stressing what the intended public allegedly thought to be ‘typically Russian’, the journal hoped to anticipate the foreign market. Although this is an extreme example serving (also) a commercial purpose, it can be argued that self-orientalization is – to a greater or lesser extent – in play in émigré culture in general.
Self-orientalization is but one means to construct identity. A key concept that is the very kernel of any approach to preservationism is that of nostalgia, shortly put the longing for home. It can be argued that there is not but one, fixed manifestation of that longing. Instead, nostalgia exists in varying forms. In her seminal work, The future of nostalgia (2001), Boym distinguishes between two types of nostalgia, restorative and reflective:
Restorative nostalgia stresses nóstos (home) and attempts a transhistorical reconstruction of the lost home. Reflective nostalgia thrives in álgos, the longing itself, and delays the homecoming — wistfully, ironically, desperately. These distinctions are not absolute binaries, and one can surely make a more refined mapping of the gray areas on the outskirts of imaginary homelands. Restorative nostalgia does not think of itself as nostalgia, but rather as truth and tradition.
Reflective nostalgia dwells on the ambivalences of human longing and belonging and does not shy away from the contradictions of modernity. Restorative
nostalgia protects the absolute truth, while reflective nostalgia calls it into doubt (idem: xviii).
Restorative nostalgia arguably can be considered an active form of nostalgia, as it comes down to remembering in order to reconstruct what is lost. Reflective nostalgia, then again, can be considered a rather passive form, i.e. remembering in order to preserve, under a glass cover as it were, but not necessarily accompanied by the wish to continue or restore. As Boym indicates, both types of nostalgia are not absolute values, but rather two ends on a spectrum of nostalgia.
In the case of the Russian emigration, the main object of nostalgia, the home longed for, is prerevolutionary Russia. It can be argued that the idea of a nostalgia spectrum consisting of an active and passive opposite (as can be distilled from Boym’s conception), can be applied to preservationism in the Russian emigration as well.
Whereas simply commemorating prerevolutionary Russia as it was can be seen as a passive form of preservationism, actively seeking to continue and pass on certain aspects of prerevolutionary Russia can be considered more active forms of preservationism. Given that this active form of preservationism seems to focus rather on the present and the future of Russia instead of exclusively on its past, the additional question rises whether the (re)construction of Russia is based solely on what was (i.e.
prerevolutionary Russia), or also on what is and, perhaps, what will be? It thus is possible that nostalgia in the Russian emigration manifests itself not only as a longing for what was (and no longer is, i.e. passive/reflective), but also on what still (or already) is, and what will be (active/restorative). An immediate consequence of the latter is that the emigration does not only position itself vis-à-vis its prerevolutionary past, but perhaps also vis-à-vis other, contemporary spheres of influence.
Needless to say, the formation of (émigré) identity and its positioning vis-à-vis other spheres of influences is not necessarily – or not solely – a matter of objective representation, but also of conceptualizing and mythologizing certain identity traits such as they are being perceived and/or imagined. With regard to émigré preservationism, it can be argued that the rendering of what constitutes Russian identity relies on a curated and, not rarely, idealized image of prerevolutionary Russia.
As Demidova (2012) posits,
the myth performs a number of very essential functions: axiological (the function of asserting one's own values), teleological (defining goals that are significant for the community / individual) and the dual function of unification- differentiation based on them. In other words, the myth greatly contributes to the self-identification of the individual and / or community and, in the extreme,
their survival as such. The latter becomes especially significant in situations of social cataclysms of various kinds (war, revolution, change of government, change of social order, economic crisis, emigration, etc.).1
In addition, according to Demidova not only the image of the past is prone to mythologization, so is the image of the future. By means of pursuing the idealized past in the present, an ideal future can be achieved – something which is most definitely applicable to the émigrés’ wish to safeguard prerevolutionary Russia in order to
‘reinstall’ it upon their return to their liberated motherland. Demidova also pays attention to “the question of the role of community censorship […] and the self- censorship caused by it in the process of mythologization”2 which to a large extent both use the same strategies: “pedaling the positive component of the image and keeping silent about its negative component.”3
Finally, Demidova indicates that also in the present, several myths can exist alongside one another:
The émigré myth developed in parallel with the Soviet myth. The semantic axis on which each of them was strung was Russia and Russian culture, however, the ideas about the latter turned out to be diametrically opposed, just as the strategies of building a myth were diametrically opposed. The émigré myth, based on these ideas, had as its goal to present the emigration as the keeper of the values taken with them; the Soviet one, starting from them, formed the image of the builders of a new culture instead of the destroyed old one. The myth thus acted as an instrument of (self) affirmation of the community through the denial
1 “[…] миф выполняет ряд весьма существенных функций: аксиологическую (функцию утверждения собственных ценностей), телеологическую (определения значимых для сообщества/индивида целей) и основанную на них двуединую функцию объединения-разграничения. Иными словами, миф в значительной степени способствует самоидентификации индивида и/или сообщества и – в пределе – их выживанию как таковых. Последнее становится особенно значимым в ситуациях общественных катаклизмов разного рода (война, революция, смена власти, смена общественного уклада, экономический кризис, эмиграция и т. п.).” Demidova 2012: 13-14.
2 “[…] о роли цензуры сообщества […] и обусловленной ею самоцензуры в процессе мифологизации.”
Idem.
3 “[…] педалирование положительной составляющей образа и умолчание о его негативной составляющей.” Idem: 24.
of the adversary. In addition, in each case a kind of countermyth was formed: in emigration – about the USSR, in the USSR – about emigration.4
This corroborates the abovementioned idea that the Russian emigration does not only position itself vis-à-vis its prerevolutionary part, but also creates its identity in relation to (the émigré perspective on) Soviet Russia. Similarly, it can be argued that the Russian emigration also looks at a third point of reference, the West, as Greta Slobin has pointed out in Russians Abroad. Literary and Cultural Politics of Diaspora. 1919- 1939 (2013). A relevant concept in this matter is Slobin’s notion of “triangulation”, which she coins as a founding principle of interwar émigré literature, referring to its oscillation between
the lost homeland and pre-revolutionary literary tradition; the Soviet Union, then in process of unprecedented political and cultural transformation; and the European host countries, especially France (idem: 14).
This process of triangulation works in a dual way, as the character of émigré literature builds on both shared and conflicting characteristics and practices. Although Slobin’s term mainly refers to a process that affected the (high) literature of the Russian First Wave emigration, this concept can be extended to Russian émigré culture and matters of identity in general. Indeed, it can be argued that Russian émigré culture as a whole developed just as much in dialogue with these three spheres of influence. When applied to the issue of preservation and/or formation of the Russian identity and culture, this implies that these two mechanisms thus not only revolve around preserving the prerevolutionary past, but also put forward elements of the Soviet and Western identities in order to construct and convey the émigré identity. As the term triangulation indicates, the émigré identity thus is embedded in a triangle of influence of the emigration’s direct others, i.e. prerevolutionary Russia, Soviet Russia and the
4“Эмигрантский миф складывался параллельно с советским мифом. Смыслообразующей осью, на которую нанизывался каждый из них, была Россия и русская культура, однако представления о последних оказывались диаметрально противоположными, как диаметрально противоположными были стратегии выстраивания мифа. Эмигрантский миф, основываясь на этих представлениях, имел своей целью представить эмиграцию как хранительницу унесенных с собой ценностей;
советский, отталкиваясь от них, формировал образ строителей новой культуры вместо разрушенной прежней. Миф, таким образом, выступал как инструмент (само)утверждения сообщества посредством отрицания противника. Кроме того, в каждом случае формировался и
West. This influence manifests itself not only in identifying with similarities, but also in stressing differences in order to shape and emphasize the specificity of the émigré identity. Furthermore, the influences of the emigration’s others are not necessarily equally large, nor do they affect every aspect of émigré identity. For one aspect, the emigration thus may look at prerevolutionary Russia, while for another, it turns to the West or Soviet Russia, or perhaps even to both. Moreover, these dynamics are, of course, not permanent, but can change throughout time, whether or not under influence of the changing émigré context. It thus is clear that the emigration’s image of the other to a large extent defines its self-image and its own identity. This also works in the opposite direction, i.e. that the self-image also influences the image of the other.
As Beller & Leerssen (2007) posit in their study on imagology, “valorizing the Other is nothing but a reflection of one’s own point of view”, a point of view that is not strictly limited to the other but also one’s includes self-image. The émigré identity thus is never an isolated and self-contained, nor permanent reality, but an everchanging construct affected by its broader context.
The nature of émigré culture
Tihanov’s, Slobin’s and Demidova’s abovementioned studies focusing on aspects of preservationism in émigré culture above all concern high culture, as do other the studies highlighting preservationism and self-orientalization in émigré culture. The same goes for Raeff, even though he actually speaks out against the use of the term high culture. Nonetheless, it can be argued that this is exactly the type of culture he refers to when speaking about émigré preservationism:
Culture, for the Russian émigrés, was an essential aspect of their national identity, of their identity as educated, at whatever level, Russian people. It consisted of all those manifestations of what at times, erroneously I think, is called ‘high’ culture: the literary, artistic, and scientific or scholarly creations of the nation, which are promulgated by such institutions as church, school, theater, books and journals, informal clubs, societies, and organizations. In all of these manifestations, however, there was a specifically Russian identity (1990:
10).
The reason why Raeff does not wish to refer to these types of cultural production as
‘high’ culture arguably – as Raeff himself does not really elaborate on this – stems from the fact that most Russian émigrés were well educated, and that this production to a certain extent played a role in the entire emigration, not only among the émigré elite.
