Picturing Russia: Explorations in Visual Culture by Valerie A. Kivelson , Joan Neuberger (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 72I undermarketeconomy,the changingrole of literary organizations and of literary journals,and thegrowing impactofInternet publishing. PartTwo surveys a largenumberofliterary works published intheperiod in question.It looksat workswritten in Soviettimeswhichweresuppressed and re-published inthe1990s,suchas Pasternak's Doctor¿Qiwago and novelsby Nabokov,and on theimpactthatthereturn oftheseworksto theirnative milieuhad on thepost-Soviet reader.It looksat the role of anti-utopia in post-Soviet literature, represented bothbythere-publishing ofdissident works such as Nabokov'sInvitation toa Beheading and Zamiatin'sWeand by postSovietanti -utopias suchas Makanin'sLaz andTolstaia'sKys. Revisionist views ofhistory arediscussed atlength usingVladimov'sanalysis ofVlasov'srolein theGreatPatriotic Warin TheGeneral andHisArmy. Thispartofthebookgoes on to discussthehistorical detective novelsofAkuninand thewaytheyportraynineteenth -century tsarist Russia.The booktheninvestigates alternative viewsofhistory as wellas fantasies on historical themes, mainly in theworks of Sorokinand Pelevin,forexampleanalysing the mix of Civil War and contemporary hallucinations in Pelevin' s Chapaev andPustota. PartThreeisdevotedtoan overview ofparticular historical figures inpostSovietRussianliterature . The first halfofthissection is devotedtodepictions ofStalinand Stalinism inworks ranging from thefiction ofAksenov, Makanin and P'etsukhto Russian and Western(translated) biographiesof Stalin and historical accountsoftheStalinist period.The secondhalfofPartThree coversthethemeofRussia and theWestin post-Soviet literature, a theme actuallymore prominentin filmsof that period than in literature but indeedmaking a smallappearanceinworkssuchas Pelevin'sLifeofInsects or Generation P. Although thetitle ofthebookis oriented onlytowards literature, thissectionof thebook coversin some detailthe themeof theWest and Russia'srelationship withWestern culture infilm and television. Marsh'sbookwillbe a valuabletoolforstudents and teachers ofRussian contemporary literature and culture.It surveys muchoftheliterary output ofpost-Soviet Russia in theyearsin question,and morein-depth studiesof particular writers or themes wouldsurely buildon thisinitial investigation. Department ofLiterature, Filmand Theatre Studies University ofEssex Anat Vernitski Kivelson, ValerieA. and Neuberger, Joan(eds).Picturing Russia: Explorations in Visual Culture. Yale University Press,New Haven,CT and London,2008. xv + 284 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Chronology.Selectedbibliography. Index.$45.00:£30.00. In compilingthiscollectionof fifty essaysthe editorshope to encourage readersto thinkmorecarefully about theirapproachto visualcultureand theimagesthey encounter; ctothink aboutimagesas images' (p. 1).Specifically, thisbookexplores thevariouswaysinwhichRussians- from medievaltimes to the presentday - have constructed, receivedand reacted to their 722 SEER, 88, 4, OCTOBER 2OIO nationalvisualculture. This is an ambitious taskfora single-volume workto undertake, butitis one thisanthology does remarkably well,withessaysby theeditorsand thefollowing: SimonFranklin, David M. Goldfrank, A. V. Chernetsov, Donald Ostrowski, Daniel Rowland,NancyKollmann,Michael S. Flier,LindseyHughes,ErnestA. Zitser,Gary Marker,Douglas Smith, ThomasNewlin,David L. Ransel,RichardStites, Laura Engelstein, Richard Wortman, AlisonHilton,Christopher Ely,WillardSunderland, StephenM. Norris,CatherineEvtuhov,Christine Ruane, Nadieszda Kizenko,Mark D. Steinberg,Louise McReynolds,James Cracraft,William G. Rosenberg, Christina Kiaer,RobertWeinberg, Francine Hirsch, DouglasNorthrop, Erika Wolf,Emma Widdis,AdrienneEdgar,Mike O'Mahony,EvgenyDobrenko, Karen Pétrone, David Shneer,MarkBassin,Susan E. Reid,Josephine Woll, Lilya Kaganovsky, Jane A. Sharp,PollyMcMichael,Roy R. Robson and Elena B. Smilianskaia, Helen Gosciloand Michael Kunichika.The chronologically -ordered and concisecontributions covermostareasofvisualculture including: books,icons,paintings, architecture, photography, cinema,applied arts, prints, maps,posters and advertisements. Although a numberofauthors refer tothetechniques employed inthecreation oftheir subjects, theprimary concernofmostiswith'theinteraction betweenproducers and consumers of thevisual'(p. 2) and thesubjective natureoftheact ofseeing.There is not the opportunity here to commenton each essay,therefore the following remarks drawattention tojusta fewand withreference to one ofthetrends thatrunsthroughout the book, the manifestation in visualcultureof £the interaction betweenRussiaand theWest'(p. 7). Kollmann examinesan earlyvisual reactionto Westernreligiousand politicalinfluence in theformoftheCap ofMonomakh.She notesthatthe alterations to itsoriginaldesignand the sixteenth-century mythassociated withit'linksRussiawith[. . .] Western heritage' (p. 38),rather thanwiththe Cap's truebirthplace, theMongolEmpire.The effects ofPetrine reforms on Russianimagemakingis thefocusof Hughes'sinsightful comparisonof a portrait ofTsar Alekseiwithone ofPeterI. Hughesspeculates at ourability todaytocorrectly readtheseportraits and thuscarefully dissects thedepiction ofeachruler. WhereasAleksei isportrayed as thepiousOrthodoxtsar, Peter's portrait emphasizesmilitary successand presents theviewerwith'Europe's vision of Peter' (p. 54). Smith'sstudyof an eighteenth-century snuffbox observes thegrowing influence oftheWeston thehabitsandbehaviour ofthe Russianelite.His thoughtful scrutiny ofthissmallobjet d'art considers notonly thenobility's adoptionof Europeanfashions, but theinvolvement ofsome, including the ownerof the snuffbox, in Freemasonry. Ransel discussesthe portrayalof nineteenth-century Russian merchants, concludingthat this professional group definedthemselves throughthe rejectionof European modes of portraiture, preferring an 'authentic Russian culturalexpression' (p. 80). The roleofconsumer culture, often identified withtheWest,is first raisedin Sunderland'sfascinating observations on theethnic,religious and culturaldiversity of the Russian Empire.He drawsattention to itsvisual presence inrestaurants, shops,prints and evenporcelain figures, arguing that REVIEWS 723 fortheordinary Russian'theexperience ofempire[. . .] was a matter ofthe...