The ambivalent myth of Tuva in the twentieth century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2024.4.5Keywords:
myth; Georgy Gachev; Tuva; Richard Feynman; Ralph Leighton; Otto Menchen-Helfen; Genghis blues; Paul Pena; Tuvan stamps; petroglyph; Tuvan throat singingAbstract
The article analyzes the process of mythologization of Tuva in the twentieth century. It led to the birth of an ambivalent myth about Tuva as, on the one hand, a wild, “uncivilized” land, on the other hand, as a hidden spiritual center of the world. The relevance of the article relates to the study of the permanent reproductive function of the myth, as well as with the insufficiently studied mythologization of the Tuvan locus.
The attraction to Tuva as a mysterious country gives rise to two vectors of mythologization: 1) critical texts and 2) texts immersing in a foreign culture. The object of this study is the texts of the second type. Travelers attracted to Tuva by several attractive factors, including postage stamps from the period of the Tuvan People's Republic, throat singing, the topographic center of Asia, give rise to an ambivalent myth about Tuva. At first, Tuva is always a mystery, an unknown land, terra incognita, and later — in the process of mythologization by strangers / others: the land is wild, “uncivilized” and some hidden spiritual center.
The story of R. Feynman and R. Leighton, who planned a trip to Tuva, served as material for analysis. It formed the basis for R. Layton's novel “Tuva or bust!” in 1991 and the film about Richard Feynman in 1988. The travelogue by O. Menchen-Helfen “Journey to Asian Tuva” in 1931 and the documentary film by R. Belich “Genghis Blues” in 1999 are also considered.
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For citation:
Shafranskaya E. F., Garipova G. T. and Shaimerdenova N. Zh. The ambivalent myth of Tuva in the twentieth century. New Research of Tuva, 2024, no. 4, pp. 61-75. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2024.4.5
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Author Biographies
Eleonora F. Shafranskaya, RUDN University
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Professor of the Institute of the Russian Language, RUDN University.
Postal address: 10 Miklukho-Maklaya St., bldg. 3, 117198, Moscow, Russia.
Email: shafranskayaef@mail.ru
Gulchira T. Garipova, RUDN University; The Kosygin State University of Russia
Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature, Faculty of Philology, RUDN University;
Professor of the Department of Philology and Linguoculturology, The Kosygin State University of Russia.
Postal addresses: 10 Miklukho-Maklaya St., bldg. 2, 117198, Moscow, Russia; 33 Sadovnicheskaya St., 117997, Russia, Moscow.
Email: ggaripova2017@yandex.ru
Nursulu Zh. Shaimerdenova, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Professor of the Department of Russian Philology and World Literature, Director, Scientific Research Institute of Turkology and Altaic Studies, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
Postal address: 71/27 al-Farabi Av., 050000, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.
Email: turkology.ri@gmail.com
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