Madness and the Mad in Russian Culture

Canadian Slavonic Papers, Sep-Dec 2007 by White, Frederick H

Angela Brintlinger and Ilya Vinitsky, eds. Madness and the Mad in Russian Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. 304 pp. $70.00, cloth.

Madness, with all of its manifestations, is an unruly subject for scholarship. Religious, medical, cultural, and mythological concepts of madness (at times in opposition to each other) provide an ever shifting and unsteady ground on which to build argumentation. Therefore, it is a pleasant surprise that Angela Brintlinger and Ilya Vinitsky have been able to raise the discourse of Madness and the Mad in Russian Culture above singular manifestations, confronting "the broad spectrum of how [madness] has been used in Russia" (p. 7) as cultural symbol, metaphor, disease, pathology and much more. The result is a very well organized multidisciplinary approach that is both singularly informative for a given topic as well as broadly revealing in its whole.

The collection of fifteen essays (plus an Introduction and Afterward) are divided into three parts. In Madness, the State and Society, the working premise is that "the history of insanity in Russia is the history of the relations between the Russian radical intelligentsia and the conservative elements of society and government" (p. 23). Vinitsky in turn examines the introduction of the term "melancholy" into Russian society, the evolution of Catherine the Great's own understanding of the term and the possible context for such an evolution. Lia Iangoulova investigates how Russian diagnostic vocabulary was developed in the 19* century. The reinterpretation of terminology reflects and at the same time was influenced by cultural perceptions of psychiatric illness. Elena Dryzhakova very ably traces the development of Dostoevsky's The Double in relation to literary and social influences, offering an interesting look at both the internal structure of the text as well as the foundations of Dostoevsky's existentialist conflict. The multiple aesthetic ramifications of Vsevolod Garshin's cult of mental illness, especially pertaining to his fans and literary colleagues are presented by Robert D. Wessling. Finally, Lev Loseff explores Joseph Brodsky's possible psychological catharsis found in "Gorbunov and Gorchakov," drawing on both literary and biographical references to madness.

In Madness, War and Revolution, the focus is on the politicization of insanity during periods of social conflict. Martin A. Miller traces the de-legitimization of political outrage and mental illness, resulting in the cultural construct of revolutionary madness. Irina Sirotkina examines the issue of "shell shock" and highlights the humane treatment of its victims by Russian psychiatrists. Suicide in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and the overlapping medical and political discourse concerning a perceived pathological individualism is presented by Kenneth Pinnow, while Dan Healy studies the role that early Soviet forensic psychiatrists played in the examination and adjudication of sex offenders.

The section on Madness and Creativity examines the dialogue on madness between Russian doctors, writers, and philosophers. Brintlinger explores the complex boundary between literature and science, straddled by Russian psychiatrists at the beginning of the 20th century. Margarita Odesskaya details how Anton Chekhov demonstrates the helplessness of medicine and society in dealing with mental illness, referencing "Ward No. 6" and "The Black Monk" to make her very compelling argument. An exhaustive explanation for the scientific origins of and political motivations for V.P. Efroimson's scientific research on "genius" is provided by Yvonne Howell. A gendered reading is given by Helena Goscilo of the female holy-fool and its trope in literature and film. Andrei Rogachevskii identifies two contemporary re-makes of Dostoevsky's The Idiot and explores the fascinating implications of just such a reanimation. Mikhail Epstein penetrates the area between reason and madness, which he defines as other-mindedness. "Othermindedness is the art of thinking dangerously, the play of reason on the edge of insanity, a game in which the thinker himself is not always able to distinguish defeat from victory" (p. 281). In the Afterward, Julie V. Brown provides an appealing analysis of the present state of Russian psychiatry, demonstrating how little has actually changed as the core issues for 19th century practitioners are once again presented as the main concerns of today.

In each section of Madness and the Mad in Russian Culture one finds a good mix of Russian and western scholars representing a wide range of topics. Often the problem with such collections is a narrow scholarly focus or the striking of a singular critical tone, but the editors have found a good balance-providing a coherent critical unity while ensuring a broad representation of scholarship. This collection as a whole is informative and addresses the need for some critical consensus in the scholarly discourse on madness and the mentally ill in Russia. This timely and relevant book will certainly become a touchstone for the on-going discussions about the Russian cultural construction of and reactions to the irrational.