old man xjxjxjxjx

7/29/2019 Old Man xjxjxjxjx

1/6

Section 1.

Topic a) Volia

The term Volia is perhaps best defined as a sense of personal liberty or will. It can be

understood as an inward freedom to pursue the more spiritual and abstract elements of

existence (dukhovnaia kul'tura) over more mundane and materialistic demands (Byt). This

idea somewhat eluded to in Gogol's Dead Souls1, in which he writes that the Russian soul

'Craves to be lost in a whirl, to carouse without stint.' In the same paragraph Gogol gives

us an excellent analogy for this rather abstract concept through his description of the

Troika. Its construction is simple and rough, yet the carriage careers along with unbounded

speed and freedom, its horses flying 'like a whirlwind.'

Volia appears to to plant itself in the Russian psyche through the very land itself, in

particular the sheer size of it. As an example, we need only look to popular folk song Song

Of the Motherland2. Russia is said to be a 'spacious land,' one in which 'life can flow as

freely, broadly, as the Volga brimming and unchecked.' It is unsurprising therefore, and

perhaps somewhat revealing, that the Russian word for self growth, prostor, should be

roughly translatable as 'expanse.'

It is important to distinguish between the concepts of volia and svoboda, the idea of

political liberty as opposed to what we have established as a more spiritual liberty. It would

be incorrect to assume that one necessitates the other or that they are causally linked.

Berdyaev illustrates this when speaking of the 19

th

century intellectual achievements of the

Russian nation. 'It [Russia] did this in the very oppressive atmosphere that accompanies

the absence of freedom. I am speaking of outward freedom, for the inward freedom which

existed among us was great.'3 To clarify this distinction further, consider that in her Nakaz

Catherine writes that 'Liberty is the right of doing whatsoever the law allows.'4 When we

1 Gogol, Nikolai. Excerpt fromDead Souls (1842). Adapted from 25-26 in Treasury of Russian Life and Humour, ed.

John Cournos. New York: Coward-McCann, 1943

2 Dunaevsky, Isaac & Lebedev-Kumach, Vasily. Song of the Motherland. Pgs. 271-272,Mass Culture in SovietRussia: Tales, Poems, Songs and Folklore. Von Geldern, James & Stites, Richard. Indiana University Press, 1995.

3 Berdyaev, Nicolas.Definition of the Russian National Type, in The Russian Idea. Beacon Press, 1962.

4 The Nakaz of Catherine the Great. Chapter V, articles 36-39.


2/6

consider that the likes of Pushkin, Likhachov, and Solzhenitsyn were all at some point

censored or their works repressed by the state, the difference between the two terms

becomes apparent.

Section 2.

Images C1. & C2.

The two images supplied are both of Catherine the great one in which she is depicted as

the classical Goddess of justice and one in which she is wearing a traditional Russian

Kokoshnik. A Kokoshnik is a traditional Russian headdress, the word deriving from the old

Slavic word Kokosh (Hen), and having been worn in Russia since pre Petrine times. The

pictures are significant as they highlight the dramatic differences between the old Russia

of the 17th century and prior, and the new, more European Russia that emerged following

the reign of Peter the Great.

Catherine is in a manner of speaking the ideal figure to discuss in relation to this

topic. She was the quintessential post Petrine Russian monarch, believing firmly in the

country's European status. She was natively a German, having attained the throne by

deposing her husband Peter III. She saw herself as an enlightened despot, acting as a

patron of the arts, communicating regularly with European enlightenment figures such as

Voltaire, and establishing the Smolny Institute for the higher education of noble women.

She established the Hermitage, and was known to write for hours each day. Under her

Russia began to take a more active role in European politics, greatly expanding its territory

in the west and acting as mediator between Prussia and Austria during the War of the

Bavarian Succession. Her Nakaz borrowed heavily from Montesquieu's earlier work, Spirit

of The Laws, and in it she boldly stated how Russia was a European country.

Since the time of Peter the Great the vision of Russia as European had essentially

become the norm. French had become the chief language of the nobility, a class which


3/6

Hosking argues had not existed as a single estate beforehand. Russian was relegated to

'communication with servants, serfs, and very young children.' This new class immersed

themselves in the culture of the west and adapted much of what they saw for Russia.

Prominent poet and statesman Gavriil Derzhavin wrote odes in the classical style, yet

founded the literary society 'Lovers of the Russian Word.' Classicalism spread throughout

Russia much as it did through the rest of Europe during the enlightenment. The Levitskii

portrait of Catherine demonstrates that, as do the Summer Gardens of St. Petersburg and

countless other examples. Thinkers and statesmen of the calibre of Lomonosov and

Ekaternia Dashkova emerged into what appeared to be a very European looking Russian.

This was far from the full story however. The peasantry, who would later become

seen as 'the authentic embodiment of the nation' were less than happy about the

governance of the country. Living conditions within the serf class worsened as landlords

became more brutal and demanding. This dissatisfaction eventually culminated in the

Pugachev Rebellion of the 1770's, in which thousands of serfs, cossacks and old believers

rose up against the state. What is notable is how non European these rebels appeared in

comparison to the nobility, as exemplified by Vasily Perov's Pugachev's Judgement.

Whatever of the nobility, within the lower classes of the Russian people one could not say

that there was a distinctly European appearance.

Following the Great War of 1812 with France, the leanings toward the west within

the nobility lessened. Sergey Uvarov's triad of nationality, Orthodoxy, Autocracy &

Narodnost, was adopted by Nicholas I as a Russian response to the ideals of the French

revolution. By the 1830's the Slavophile movement had come into being, with notable

figures such as Kireevski and Khomyakov denouncing the reforms of Catherine and Peter.

The Decemberist Revolt of 1925, albeit predicated on Nicholas I's assumption of the

throne, saw more of the nobility cast aside their European identity. It would appear that

despite Catherine's declaration in her Nakaz, Russia's status within Europe was less clear


4/6

cut than she had imagined.

Section III

Essay a) Continuity vs. Change.

Russian history has often been punctured with periods of great upheaval and change. As

often as not, these periods have lead to radical new attitudes towards law, types of

governance, or religious beliefs taking the place of those in place beforehand. In such a

climate it may be argued that it would be difficult to built up any cultural continuity or

identity, perhaps lending credence to Chaadaev's remarks in his Letters on the Philosophy

of Historythat Russia is devoid of history and is still in the stage chaotic fermentation in

the moral sphere. However, it is my belief that despite these upheavals there are

significant themes that pervade Russian history and culture, surviving these cataclysmic

changes and reappearing, if not immediately then at some later point. I shall make special

reference to the Christianisation of Russia, the changes instituted by Peter the Great, and

the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.

In their essay Binary Models in the Dynamics Of Russian Culture, Uspenskii and

Lotman outline a theory in which due to the lack of purgatory within the Russian Orthodox

faith in contrast with the medieval Catholic west, Russian culture essentially existed in a

state of two polar extremes with no middle ground, meaning that significant change could

only be achieved through radical upheaval. Following this upheaval prior customs could be

repressed or forgotten and would only manifest themselves discretely following the event.

The essential logic is that as there is no moral middle ground between heaven and hell,

and therefore right and wrong, if a new system of doing things comes into place then the

old method is immediately rendered incorrect. While this theory has its flaws, it does give

us a working model in which to examine certain significant events in Russian history and

their consequences.


5/6

Taking first the Christianisation of Russia as an example we can test how this tehory

performs. In 988 Tsar Vladimir accepted the Byzantine faith and began the process of

making Russia Christian. The old gods such as Perun and Mokosh were discarded, with a

striking example being the destruction of the temple of Perun at Podol and the building of a

church to St. Basil on the site. Chrisianity spread quicky across Russia, as is evidenced by

the completion of the Cathedral of Saint Dmitrii at Vladimir in the 12th century.

Despite the rapid acceptance of the new faith however, there remained traits of the

pagan religions, in particular references to the Mother figure, Mokosh. In the Russian

Orthodox faith Mary, taking on this similar role, has far more significance than in the

western churches. As well as this we see throughout Russian icons from the middle ages

that Mary takes the uniquely Russian Orans Pose, a pose which can be observed in other

Russian designs, including what would appear to be a Mother Earth figure in a 19th century

headdress. This lends credence to the idea that there is a certain amount of discrete

continuity within Russian culture.

To further emphasise this we can also look at the modernization efforts of Peter the

Great and their after effects. Following his grand embassy of 1698 Peter instituted a large

number of changes within Russia, in an effort to bring the supposedly backward nation into

line with the rest of Europe. He established the table of ranks, forbade the wearing of

beards by his nobles and changed court attire to a more European style, amongst many

other things. However, as has been alluded to in the previous question, Russia remained

far from a definite European state. By the 1820's the idea of Russia being separate from

Europe was once again recognised by the Monarchy, as shown by Nicholas I's adoption of

Uvarov's triad, and Alexander III even removed the stigma of growing a beard. By the reign

of Nicholas II there were even suggestions of reintroducing traditional Pre-Petrine Russian

court clothing, although these apparently amounted to nothing.

As a final examination of this idea of upheaval and discrete continuity we can look


6/6

at the emergence and fall of the Soviet Union and the destruction of the Church of Christ

the Saviour in 1931. Fitting the pattern rather well, and invoking thoughts of the temple of

Perun a century before, the Soviets had planned to build on the site a great Palace of the

Soviets, featuring a 100m high statue of Lenin, however due to poor planning, budget

problems and the second world war this never came to fruition. Following the fall of the

Soviet Union in the 1990's, the church was eventually rebuild on the same site in 1996,

highlighting both the reactionary element of Russian culture and indeed the discrete

continuity, as despite the official state policy of Atheism that had prevailed during the

Soviet period, the Russian people had evidently retained their faith.

In summation, Russian culture does indeed have incidents of great change and

upheaval. However, there are notable and distinct signs of continuity and consistancy

despite this, be it anything from the new Iconist movement of the early 20th century or the

important role of Mary in the orthodox faith.

old man xjxjxjxjx

Documents