Abstract

This lecture examines the applicability of Edward Said’s theories to Russia about “Orientalism” as a hegemonic device. The focus will be a painter and a composer whose works were created in the late nineteenth century, at a time of tsarist conquest in Central Asia. After a brief survey of how Russian Orientalism fits into the broader framework of Said’s ideas about culture and colonialism, I will examine the war painter Vasilli Vereshchagin’s “Turkestan Series,” a group of canvases executed in the early 1870’s, shortly after the artist participated in the campaign against Samarkand. I will contrast Vareshchagin’s portrayal of tsarist small wars against the Islamic khanates with Aleksandr Borodin’s opera Prince Igor. While based on a thirteenth-century medieval epic about an unsuccessful campaign against steppe nomads, the opera can also be read as a metaphor for the tsarist march into Turkestan. The lecture will be accompanied by slides as well as musical clips.