Russian Culture and Civilization

Russian Culture and Civilization Class 1 What is Culture? Western vs. Russian Approaches to Culture: Observers and Participants Russia has inspired centuries of commentary and analysis by Western travelers and observers; the academic study of Russia began in the late 19th century. Russia was seen as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Western researchers are trying to "crack the code." Models for analysis: (1) Binary schematization/dualistic analysis/polarities of Russian culture: James Billington (The Icon and the Axe), who began his studies of Russia in the 1960s, saw Russian history as a long struggle between the wild and the tame on the one hand, and violence and the cult of beauty on the other. Examples from his text (p. 21) : Hardship and religion shaped Russian culture. Difficult material conditions produced an unusually intense spirituality. Intense cold has produced a compensating in human relations. The horizontal plains of Eurasia seem to have intensified the individual's longing to find a vertical link with God and some higher plane of reality. This model is also used by Russian and Soviet researchers (Lotman, Paperniy)