Eros i pornografiia v russkoi kul'ture / Eros and Pornography in Russian Culture by M. s> Levitt A. Toporkov (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 339 (pp. I I- I2), continuing with 'what might have been' at Oranienbaum if the Reds had not taken it away (p. 43), and with Galitzines serving in the Chevalier Guards, evoked by the 'Dom Officers' (sic, cf. 'Dom Architects', pp. I60-63), and ending with the homage to the sculptor Mikhail Anikushin for whom Katya posed and with whom she worked, and the Galitzine Library, housed at no. 46 Fontanka (pp. 232-35). Although the book is aimed at what is usually called 'a wide audience', it is regrettable that the text is often so unreliable (look, for instance, at the opening lines on Thomas de Thomon's Stock Exchange, which is allegedly sited at the convergence of 'the Neva with her smaller tributary, the Nevka' [p. 50]). The book, however, lives by its evocation of the city's hidden splendour, and not, of course, of its squalor, and the familiar interiors of certain palaces, museums and libraries are found alongside a greater number of unfamiliar and unexpected ones, be they of the Admiralty and Mining Institute, of private apartments and closed institutions, or, indeed, of boiler rooms and bridges. Department ofSlavonicStudies ANTHONY CROSS Universityof Cambridge Levitt, MI. and Toporkov, A. Eros i pornografliav russkoikul'ture / Eros and Pornography in Russian Culture.Russkaia potaennaia literatura /Russian Forbidden Literature. Ladomir, Moscow, 1999. Notes. Illustrations. 701 pp. Price unknown. SCHOLARLY interest in Russian sex and pornography has emerged in several books during the last decade, but the present volume goes considerably further than any of its predecessors, such as, for example, L. Heller (ed.), Amouret Erotismedansla litterature russeduXXe siecle/ Liubov'i erotikav russkoiliterature XXogo 1eka (SEER, 7', I993, 2, P. 313) which it greatly exceeds not only in thematic scope but also in the eroticisim of its extensive array of pictures. This bilingual volume derives from a conference held at the University of Southern California in I998 and contains thirty-one papers, and I65 black and wvlhite and thirty-nine colour illustrations. There are too many of each to enumerate them all in the space of a review, but the articles fall into six categories. 'Pornography before Pornography' consists of pieces on the lubok and other forms of visual and oral folk art. 'Porn in the Age of Enlightenment', unsurprisingly, pays particular attention to Barkov (already featured in the first two volumes of the 'Russian Forbidden Literature' series), and to Catherine the Great (as 'Porn Queen', in John Alexander's jokey title [p. 237]). 'Porn and the Silver Age in Russia' deals with Rozanov, Kuzmin, Artsybashev(!), and the erotic art of Konstantin Somov. 'Psychopathia sexualis' consists of three disparate articles ranging from Tolstoi's conflicting sexual attitudes to early twentieth-century law, and to science in the I920S. 'Pornography and the Law' is concerned with pornography's legal positioin in the present day. And, finally, 'Porn in Russia Today' contains seven articles of which the majority, though mostly written by women, are specifically concernied wvith (heterosexual) men's problems and interests. Also in this section is an interesting article on prison folklore, anida piece by the anecdote 340 SEER, 79, 2, 200I collector Emil Draitseron 'ContemporaryRussianJokelore as Pornography' (pp.590-604). Many of the pictures are from the collection of the bibliophile L. V. Bessmertnykh who provides a note on the edition of Somov's Bookof the Marquis,firstpublished in Germany, and now brought to a wider audience than that of 'specialistreaders'.Forthis reviewer, one of the most interesting aspectsof Somov, as representedhere, is the differentvariantshe was wont to make of essentiallythe same picture. For instance, two drawingsof Daphnis and Chloe, shown in one discreetly covered with fronds, in another with genitals in full view (figs 74-75); another similarexample is his 'Le coucher' (figs83-84). The extensive collection of coloured erotic pictures are by Ivan Semenovich Efimov (I878-I959); they appear, incidentally, to have been bound in the wrong order,with figs30-39 coming between figs i 3 and 14. Perhapsnaturally,in view of its dual theme, this volume is very varied in tone. Though all the articles are scholarly and most are entirely sober sociology, history or literarycriticism,others allow themselvesa modicum of levity:the title of Helena...