#11 - JRL 8205 - JRL Home
Date: Tue, 11 May 2004
From: Daniel Rancour-Laferriere <darancourlaferriere@ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Ambivalence about Russian Masochism

I wish to respond to the astute remarks on my theory of Russian masochism by Andrew Gentes in JRL (8190). What Gentes says is that my admiration of Russian masochism in _The Slave Soul of Russia_ (Macmillan/NYU Press, 1995) is "very different" from my hostility to the "inner slave" who censored my interview on women in Russia (JRL 8161).

This is correct. The two reactions are indeed different. But Gentes has not considered the psychology of ambivalence. Contrary to what he says, I have not "backed away" from my conclusions in _The Slave Soul of Russia_. There I stated that "masochism is part of the very attractiveness and beauty of Russian culture. Where would Tatiana Larina or Dmitri Karamazov or Anna Karenina be without their masochism?" (p. 247). Indeed we all enjoy Dostoevsky's character who volunteers to go to Siberia for a crime he did not committ, we all are enthralled by the self-destructive, self-humiliating trajectory of Tolstoy's ultimately suicidal Anna. It is possible to admire marvelous aesthetic portrayals of masochism, and it is possible even to admire the real-life masochism of Russians - but from a distance. This is like watching with fascination as Shiite Muslims flagellate and cut themselves before CNN cameras on a religious holiday (by the way, as I repeatedly state in the book, there are other masochists in this world besides Russians).

The key to dealing with my ambivalence is distance. You can admire and marvel at masochism from a distance, but if you suddenly become its unwilling victim (as I was in my censored interview), then you hate it, and you wish Russians (in this case, Russian journalists) would stop being masochistic. I feel this ambivalence whenever I have any dealings with Russia or the Russians. In an Orthodox Church, for example, I am enthralled to watch venerators throw themselves to the floor before icons of the Mother of God, and I am carried away by the singing of the beautiful akathists glorifying her as well. But when these same venerators approach me and roughly try to take the camera out of my hand, I am angry. The same individual Russians are provoking ambivalent feelings.

Visitors to Russia often come away with a feeling that Russians ought to change, for visitors often feel that Russians are (sadistically) trying to force their masochistic behaviors and attitudes on them. In my own case this feeling usually passes, and I resume my research on the fascinating "land of slaves" (Lermontov). Russians are just fine as they are. Then, after a while, a (perhaps masochistic) desire arises in me to return to Russia. I have returned many times, and I have come back again to America feeling disgusted many times. That is ambivalence.

Best regards,

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
Professor of Russian