Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture

320 Pages·1993·7.919 MB·English

by  Joanna Hubbs

Mother Russia

Mother Russia
The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture
JOANNA HUBBS
Indiana University Press
BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS
© 1988 by Joanna Hubbs
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American
University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only
exception to this prohibition.
Manufactured in the United States of America
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hubbs, Joanna, 1939-
Mother Russia: the feminine myth in Russian culture / by Joanna
Hubbs.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-253-33860-3
1. Mother-goddesses—Soviet Union. 2. Mythology, Slavic.
3. Soviet Union—Religion. 4. Soviet Union—Civilization.
I. Title.
BL940.S65H83 1988 87-37469
291.2'1 T0947—del 9 CIP
To Clay
with love

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
INTRODUCTION Russia as Mother xi
p art one: Mothers
CHAPTER ONE The First Mothers 3
CHAPTER TWO Reconstructing the Russian Great
Goddess: Rusalki and Baba Yaga 24
CHAPTER THREE Reconstructing the Russian Great
Goddess: Mother Earth 52
CHAPTER FOUR The Coming of Christianity:
Mary and Paraskeva-Piatnitsa 87
part two: Mothers Sons
CHAPTER FIVE Epic Heroes and Disobedient Sons 143
From Saintly Son to Autocratic
CHAPTER SIX
Father: The Myth of the Ruler 167
Pushkin and Other Champions
CHAPTER SEVEN
from the Intelligentsia 207
The Mother as Russia 228
CONCLUSION
Notes 238
Selected Bibliography 281
Index 294
ILLUSTRATIONS FOLLOW P. 123

Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Lorna Peterson, Leonard Glick, Ethel Dunn,
Maria Banerjee, and Richard Stites for their encouragement over
the past eight years of research and writing.
I am especially grateful to Richard Pope for his careful read­
ing of the manuscript and for his invaluable suggestions for revi­
sion.
My thanks to the library staff of Hampshire College, particu­
larly to Mike Kurrier, Serena Weaver, and John Gunther.
Illustrations 7, 8, and 10, from Marija Gimbutas, The God­
desses and Gods of Old Europe, copyright 1974, 1982 by Thames
and Hudson Ltd., are reproduced by permission of the Univer­
sity of California Press.