SUMMARY:

In his article David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye verifies the theory of Said in the light of its theoretical critique and against the historical background of cultural representations within the Russian empire, drawing on both recent research and debates among western historians and analysis of paintings by Vereshchagin and works of Borodin. The author starts with acknowledgment of the ambiguous position of Russian Orientalism, which was due to the fact that Russia itself was subjected to a persistent tradition of Orientalization on the side of Western Europe. He proceeds further by pointing out that an ambivalent attitude of Russians toward their European identity and the heterogeneous character of empire’s Asiatic periphery created a matrix of perception and practice similar to European Orientalism but far more complex and less straightforward. Arguing for an inclusion of artistic representations into the study of cultural perceptions associated with the Orient, Schimmelpenninck van der Oye scrutinizes the Turkestan series of paintings by Vereshchagin and Borodin’s opera “Prince Igor’.” Whereas Vereshchagin represents a typical for Western Europe discourse toward the Orient, which asserts the “Otherness,” inferiority, and need for a civilized intervention, Borodin stands for a more positive attitude toward Asia, which hinges on the fact of close relationship between Russia and its Asian neighbors in the course of their history.