The Ambivalence of China’s Image in the Works by A. Nesmelov and N. Baikov

Abstract

The research explores the literature of Russian emigre community in the Far East and its connection with the cultural tradition of China. The article is aimed at revealing the way the problem of interaction between Russian and Chinese cultures is reflected in lyrical miniatures, short story, travel and ethnographic essays of the representatives of the Harbin branch of Russian literary immigration. The authors make an attempt to prove the controversy of the works by A. Nesmelov and N. Baikov in relation to the Eurasian perspective. Entering into a dialogue with contemporaries, the writers deny the perception of the East as a new spiritual homeland of man that has been exploited in Russian literature at the beginning of the century and developed by Eurasians. The literary analysis of the poetic and prosaic texts results in defining the status of Oriental motifs in the works by A. Nesmelov and N. Baikov, as well as the way the writers address the pressing issues of their time (the problems of interaction between Western and Eastern cultures and of national identity, in particular). It has been proved that the image of China in the literary reception of the emigre writers is ambivalent: on the one hand, the authors regard it as a return to authenticity and escape from utilitarianism and pragmatism imposed by Western civilization, on the other hand, it becomes a symbol of the East absorbing the hostile West.