The Russian Cold: Histories of Ice, Frost, and Snow(22 Environment in History: International Perspectives)

Cold has long been a fixture of Russian identity both within and beyond the borders of Russia and the Soviet Union, even as the ongoing effects of climate change complicate its meaning and cultural salience. The Russian Cold assembles fascinating new contributions from a variety of scholarly traditions, offering new perspectives on how to understand this mainstay of Russian culture and history. In chapters encompassing such diverse topics as polar exploration, the Eastern Front in World War II, and the iconography of hockey, it explores the multiplicity and ambiguity of “cold” in the Russian context and demonstrates the value of environmental-historical research for enriching national and imperial histories.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Foundations Introduction: The Russian Cold Julia Herzberg, Andreas Renner, Ingrid Schierle Chapter 1. Climate Ideas and the Cold in Russia Julia Herzberg Part II: Science and Politics Chapter 2. The Nature of Cold: Russia’s Climate and the Academy of Sciences in the Eighteenth Century Julia Herzberg Chapter 3. The Russian South Pole Expedition in the Context of Political Interests of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era Erki Tammiksaar Chapter 4. The Subarctic: A Classic Soviet Study of the Tundra Denis J. B. Shaw Part III: Images and Narratives Chapter 5. From a “Country of Cold and Gloom” to a “Welcoming Land”: Climate and the Image of Siberia in the Russian Periodical Press, 1860s to the Early 1900s Nataliia Rodigina Chapter 6. Local Warming: Cold, Ice and Snow in Russian and Soviet Cinema Oksana Bulgakowa Chapter 7. The Aesthetics of Cold: Narrating National Trauma in Film Roman Mauer Part IV: Pain and Pleasure Chapter 8. The Wehrmacht and the Russian Winter: The Impact of Climate at the Front and in Soviet Captivity Aleksandr Kuzminykh Chapter 9. Winter Tourism and Skiing in the Soviet Union: School of Courage, Source of Health, National Pastime Aleksei Popov Chapter 10. Heroes of the Ice: The Polar Explorer and the Hockey Player as Two Masculine Identity Scripts of the Soviet Era Alexander Ananyev Conclusion Julia Herzberg, Andreas Renner, Ingrid Schierle

About the Author :
Julia Herzberg is Professor for the Cultural History of Eastern Europe at the University of Leipzig and Deputy Director of the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO).

Review :
“For a country that celebrates the victory of General Winter, the lack of scholarly examination on the cold, and climate in general, is an obvious lacuna in Russian studies. Herzberg and her colleagues are to be commended for breaking ground on the topic. The mix of history of science with cultural and gender studies offered in this volume challenges scholars across the field to consider how the cold impacts their own studies. We can hope this volume marks the beginning of a new field worth exploring.” • Slavonic and East European Review “Overall, the collection of chapters is full of insight and serves as a welcome and original introduction to this chilling topic.” • Eurasian Geography and Economics “This collection foregrounds one of Russia’s most distinctive natural features: the cold. Together the contributions advance comparative climate history in new directions by attending not only to place, period, and politics, but to an even more fundamental condition of the human experience.” • Andy Bruno, Northern Illinois University “This diverse collection provides interesting and important studies on how the cold climate in Russia was experienced, studied and imagined by various actors in different periods of its history.” • Alla Bolotova, Aalto University