(no subject)
Недавно прочитала довольно-таки интересную книгу Orlando Figes "Natasha's dance". Это обзор культурной истории России, начиная сo времен правление Петра и заканчивая советским периодом. В книге автор посредством творчества русских писателей, художников и музыкантов пытается найти ответ на вопрос: что же это за зверь такой "загадочная русская душа" и с чем его едят? Да и вообще, как общество, политический строй, вероисповедание, язык, исторические события, а также географическое положение страны (вроде мы Европа, но не европейцы, вроде мы Азия, но не азиаты) формировали Россию и ее население.
Вот небольшой отрывок из книги. Пo-моему, интересное замечание:
"The Russians were uncertain about their place in Europe (they still are), and that ambivalence is a vital key to their cultural history and identity. Living on the margins of the continent, they have never been quite sure if their destiny is there. Are they of the West or of the East? Peter made his people face the West and imitate its ways… The educated class looked at Russia through European eyes, denouncing their own history as 'barbarous' and 'dark'. They sought Europe's approval and wanted to be recognized as equals by it… But at the same time they were painfully aware that Russia was not 'Europe' -- it constantly fell short of that mythical ideal -- and perhaps could never become part of it. Within Europe, the Russians lived with an inferiority complex. 'Our attitude to Europe and the Europeans', Herzen wrote in 1850's, 'is still that of provincials towards the dwellers in a capital: we are servile and apologetic, take every difference for a defect, blush for our peculiarities and try to hide them.' Yet rejection by the West could equally engender feelings of resentment and superiority to it. If Russia could not become a part of 'Europe', it should take more pride in being 'different'. In this nationalist mythology the 'Russian soul' was awarded a higher moral value than the material achievements of the West. It had a Christian mission to save the world".
В общем, занимательная книга о России, которая представляет взгляд со стороны, причем достаточно объективный. Очень советую почитать (правда, я не знаю, есть ли перевод этой книги на русский).