La Russie et les Russes dans la fiction française du XIXe siècle (1812-1917): D'une image de l'autre à un univers imaginaire by Charlotte Krauss

Abstract

MLR, 103.2, 2oo8 499 La Russie et lesRusses dans la fiction franfaise du XIXe siecle (I8I2-I9I7): d'une imagede l'autre a un univers imaginaire. By CHARLOTTEKRAUSS. (Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft, Io8) Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi. 2007. 446 pp. E90; $I22. ISBN 978-go 420-2 I 58-7. Critics and scholars frequentlymake casual reference to theclose cultural relationship which existed between Russia and France from theeighteenth century onwards; they far less easily cite concrete examples of such. Extending the work of Michel Cadot (La Russiedans la vie intellectuellefranfaise,I839-I856 (Paris: Fayard, I967)) and Charles Corbet (L'Opinionfranfaise face a l'inconnue russe,I799-I894 (Paris: Didier, I967)), Charlotte Krauss provides an impressive array of such examples inher analysis of the Russia imagined inFrench fictionbetween I8I2 and I9 I7. She argues that while there has been a revival ofRussian images inFrench literature since the fallofCommunism, these are in factborrowed froma long historical tradition.Her aim in tracing these li terary manifestations is threefold: toconstruct an inventoryof the representations and ideas about Russia circulating in the collective French imagination, to identify their characteristics, and to study theirhistorical evolution. The chronological boundaries ofKrauss's study are determined, at one end, byNapoleon's invasion ofRussia, which prompted more widespread contact between Russian and French citizens, and, at the other, by the I9I7 revolution, which saw the French perception of Russia become predominantly political, a situation not conducive to the production of the type of images inwhich Krauss is interested. In spite of thecomparatively restrictedhistori cal breadth of the investigation, the focus upon more than a hundred textswritten during thisperiod is testament to thedepth of the corpus informing its findings. The firstpart of Krauss's study focuses on the period I8I2-55 and investigates the process ofmythification which characterized the initial stage of French litera ture's appropriation of images of Russia. The creation of thisRussian 'universe' in theFrench imagination is founded upon a series of stereotypes of this 'other' drawn from a variety of subjects: Russian history (notably the reigns of Peter I and Cather ine II), local colour (including climate, geography, Orthodoxy, and excess), and the re-andmisappropriation offaits divers.Numerous examples underpin these different sections and the combination of reference to less familiarworks, such as Dumanoir and Le Roux's play La Dragonne of I842, and more widely known novels, such as Stendhal's Armance, aswell as toworks in thebroader European tradition, proves to be extremely persuasive. In her second part, Krauss examines the 'typology of extremes' which populates French literature of the period i855-8o. With the process of introducing French readers to this largely unknown land completed, writers now use this knowledge to populate theirworks with Russian characters, regardless ofwhether or not the plot has any ostensible link to this country.And no matter the variety of plots depicted, the types ofRussian characters portrayed remain the same: the prince, the tsar, the Cossack, the 'muzhik', the femalemartyr, or the seductress. All of these are charac terized by their impulse towards excess; if moderation is tobe depicted, then it isby means of non-Russian characters. Ironically, just when events such as the triumphant reception forRussian sailors at Toulon in I893 and the Franco-Russian Alliance (I893-I9I4) indicate themost marked rapprochement between the two countries, French literature disrupts the comforting Russian universe represented by these character types.On the one hand, the introduction of nihilists breaks the harmony of this universe; on the other, the appearance of several caricaturing texts challenges themythification of thisuniverse. At times the reference to relativelyunknown works leads toan excessive recounting of plot details where amore in-depth analysis of the significance and metamorphosis 500 Reviews ofparticular imageswould have been preferable. And, although theappearance of the study inRodopi's 'Internationale Forschungen zurAllgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft' seriesmay explain the inclusion ofGerman-language quota tions, the failure to provide translations for these extracts is an unfortunate over sight. Such minor shortcomings aside, however, Krauss produces an impressively researched work which draws on vast primary sources toprovide a fascinating insight into this area of literary influence. UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS CLAIRE WHITEHEAD Women inEurope between theWars: Politics, Culture and Society. Ed. by...