Duelling, the Russian Cultural Imagination, and Masculinity in Crisis
This book, written from a feminist perspective, uses the focus of duelling to discuss the nature of masculinity in Russia. It traces the development of duelling and masculinity historically from the time of Peter the Great onwards, considers how duelling and masculinity have been represented in both literature and film and assesses the high emphasis given in Soviet times to gender equality, arguing that this was a failed experiment that ran counter to Russian tradition. It examines how duelling continues to be a feature of life in contemporary Russia and relates the situation in Russia to wider scholarship on the nature of masculinity more generally. Overall, the book contends that Russias valuing of a strong, militaristic form of masculinity is a major problem.
Amanda DiGioia is a graduate student at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London.
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For a full list of available titles please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-the-History-of-Russia-and-Eastern-Europe/book-series/SE0329
Duelling, the Russian Cultural Imagination, and Masculinity in Crisis
Amanda DiGioia
First published 2021
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2021 Amanda DiGioia
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This book is dedicated to:
Maria Sibiryakova, Dr Snejana Tempest, Irina Likhtina, Oksana Rosenblum, and Katya Kesten, for helping to teach me how to speak.
Jess Farr-Cox and Olga Livshin, for the red pen is mightier than the pistol.
Lev Fridman, for being the ultimate academic matchmaker, as well as for all your attempts to correct my Russian pronunciation.
Peter Braga and Merlin Petrovich, for being my rocks and sources of joy that pierce even the darkest nights of my life.
Last (but certainly not least), I would like to dedicate this book to my second, Jennifer Altavilla: Grab a friend, thats your second; your lieutenant when theres reckoning to be reckoned (Miranda, L. M., Lacamoire, A. & Chernow, R., 2015. Hamilton: An American Musical. Atlantic Recording Corporation). Jenny, we have been friends for over a decade. You have sat by my side as I babbled about Alexander Hamilton throughout high school (2006 seems like yesterday). You have dried my tears countless times, and cheered on my various triumphs. You are not only Jane Austen to my Mary Shelley; you inspire me every day to become a better scholar, a better friend, and a better person. I cherish our friendship. Jenny. You will always be my second. Thank you for everything.
The purpose of this publication is to shed light upon the connection between toxic masculinity and duelling in Russia. Why is the duel coded as admirable, remarkable, or noble? What is so magnificent about men who are unable to resolve conflict by means other than violence? The argument of this book is that duelling is a symptom of masculinity, which has always been in crisis. By connecting duelling to a crisis of Russian masculinity, as well as using both classic and contemporary texts to explore legal, social, political, and historical aspects of Russian culture, this book will fill a gap in the existing literature on Russian duelling, a topic that is ripe for re-analysis via a feminist lens. By using a gender studies framework, modern ideas and examples can be brought to bear on a supposedly archaic cultural trope, arguing for its continued cultural relevance.
Amanda DiGioia is a PhD candidate at the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Amanda received a masters degree in womens & gender studies at Southern Connecticut State University. Amandas first monograph, Childbirth and Parenting in Horror Texts: The Marginalized and the Monstrous, was published in 2017 by Emerald Publishing Limited. Amanda is also a co-editor of Multilingual Metal Music: Sociocultural, Linguistic and Literary Perspectives on Heavy Metal Lyrics, an edited volume forthcoming in 2020 through Emerald Publishing Limited. Amanda has been published in Horror Studies, Metal Music Studies, and Fan Phenomena: Game of Thrones. Amandas research interests include feminist textual analysis, gender studies, and media studies.
This book is based on research I conducted around my diagnosis with grey zone lymphoma, a cancer that is so rare that there is no standard of treatment for it. Subsequently, I was diagnosed with heart failure, a side effect of my chemotherapy treatment, presenting me with a new set of challenges. I am eternally grateful to a number of family members, friends, and colleagues who have encouraged me to start this work, endure, and publish it.
At the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, I would like to thank Dr Ben Noble, Maria Sibiryakova, Dr Snejana Tempest, Dr Sarah Young, Dr Seth Graham, and Dr Mark Galeotti for their academic advice, feedback, and support regarding this manuscript.
