Lermontov and the Stereotype of the Tatar
Elizabeth Venable
At the beginning of Mikhail Lermontov’s “Bela”, we are confronted with several different and somewhat conflicting stereotypes of “Asiatics,” told to us by Maxim Maximich. We are told that all Asiatics are rogues, and that, with the exception of the Tatars, their only wish is to remain in a drunken state. With regards to the Tatars themselves, we are led to believe that they were a rather warlike people, with a far higher respect for horses than the rights of women. Throughout the writings of Lermontov, and those of his contemporaries, such stereotypes, presented in one form or another, abound. They may be in an anecdotal form, as in the collected A Hero of Our Time, or, more often, they were simply inherent in the presentation of the subject matter. The Russian Romantics found much reason to distort their presentation of such Asiatics, as the picturesque and sometimes loathsome or baffling qualities of orientals in general had been divined stylish by Romantic movement, and as the groups were, in general, removed from the predominant Russian society, many potent alterations of culture passed unchecked. As a result, several common literary stereotypes began to develop within Romantic Russian literary circles.
The case of the writings of Lermontov are particularly interesting in that, although Lermontov does use established stereotypes to portray Tatars, he does so in a manner which is not quite so insulting to the Tatars, as a device which more often humanizes the people than not. It is perhaps Lermontov’s respect for the real culture which allows him to make such distinctions between the debasing and the useful stereotype within his work.
The most common creature the Tatar was made into by Romantic Russian writers was one of an extremely sensual and warlike nature. He was devious, a fearful oddity, ready to assault a man skillfully on the street for no particular reason. He was, no doubt, always a highly skilled lover, ready to wrest women away from their husbands with little effort. He was dirty, and a scoundrel with a low level of humanity. They also exhibited a certain mystical component through their behavior. There is no doubt that some of the Russians of the time believed fully this stereotype, but it seems, as shown in the following paragraphs, to be a bit of an exaggeration.
While it is not the aim of this paper to reconstruct actual Tatar society, or parallel that society with its common stereotypes, it is perhaps necessary to shoe that, indeed, such literary references were perhaps extreme. Possibly the most removed, and, thus, perhaps more accurate, guides to the experience of the world of the Caucases are travel guides written by visiting Europeans. By the term “removed”, I mean to suggest that the writers were more removed from any cultural stereotypes and pre-assumptions than travelers from northern Russia. Had I found any documents written by residents of the Caucases themselves which concerned race relations, I would probably found them applicable as well, but as my sources were either northern Russians or very well educated foreigners, I decided to write of the latter. This being said, there were two applicable travel guides at my disposal-- those of Alexandre Dumas (of Monte Cristo fame), and Edward Clark, who visited around 1810.
Clarke describes the Tartars as being simple cattle-herders, who dress with minimal decoration and are extremely religiously observant. His text even describes the tartars as being in danger of "plunder from the Russians." This comment certainly seems to apply to the Russian "conquest" of southern lands. He says nothing of the race's supposed aggression. Dumas, too, seems to mistrust the truth of the tales of the many evils perpetrated by Tartars. He relates only a single anecdote regarding completely unprovoked Tatar crime, of a multiple kidnaping (he relates a much larger number of atrocities said to have been committed by Chechens and Russians), and relates his own belief that "any bandit, no matter what mountain tribe he belongs to, is called a Tatar in the northern half of the Caucases and a Leghisian in the south." He did relate a few tales of the "erotic mastery" of the race, in which, in one, he describes a married woman goes to stay with her Tatar lover, pretending she has been captured and securing funds for the man before her pregnant return home. However, aside from the seemingly excessive span of her visit (she stayed three months), and the clever "ransom" plot, the story seems as if it might have come from a merging of any two races with even half libidos. We hear nothing of extended capacities, unusual mating tricks, or anything of the sort. He does mention the Tatar "custom" of carrying off wives of others, or their own future brides (in advance). This seems the most documented example of sexual extremity in the Tatar world, and may or may not have been true. The process of swiping women was obviously alluded to in Bela. So, it seems that there was probably a factual basis for such stereotypes, but that some matters, especially accounts of the violence of the Tatars, were quite contrived.
As mentioned before, I believe that Lermontov had a tendency to utilize these stereotypes for the elevation of Asiatic peoples. He may not been upon any particular mission to do so, but he certainly did not intend to debase the Tatar peoples with his pen. As a student at Moscow University, he had acquired a particular respect for Moslem cultures, under the guidance of his professor, the Arabist, Boldyrev. This respect seems to have remained until his untimely death. It seems manifested, not only in “Bela”, but in an earlier work, by the name of “Izmail Bey”.
“Izmail Bey” was an early poetic work of Lermontov’s which was published posthumously in 1843. This titillating piece of fiction described the conquests, both military and erotic, of a Muslim of the poem’s name. Not only does the poem describe Izmail’s conquests of soldier’s wives, but it also includes several heated passages in which the charms of the women of Izmail’s culture are expounded upon. Full of what Susan Layton terms “Oriental Machismo,” the poem was largely taboo, but exemplifies, in a more ennobling fashion than usual, the Romantic tendencies of Tatar fictionalization. Lermontov, of course, differed from the general mass of writers by not disdaining the Muslim character, but by “elevating” the myth to something not necessarily quite of itself, pandering to public perception in a manner which might have elevated the Asiatic to, at the very least, the plane of a formidable competitor, both with regards to military bravery and the events of the bedroom. Izmail is neither sneaky, nor underhanded, nor dirty, all of which he might have been if he had been treated in a less sensationalistic fashion, by the other writers of the time.
Layton believes that Lermontov’s later work, Bela, which was originally published separately, was written in response to a particular pulp novel of 1839, “The Bedouin Woman.” In that particular text, which was of the “violent oriental genre,” the “high-minded” and moralist main character, Franz, prevents the seductive Asiatic of the story, Ambra, from being gang-raped. He then hides her away and refuses her many offers of sexual pleasure, hoping, instead, to marry her and “save” her from the whims of her father, who has tried to have her returned. The story ends with the death of both protagonists. Ambra dies in a most pathetic and symbolic fashion, being stabbed to death by many including her father and brothers. Her death was as a punishment for her love of Franz. It is not hard to see the antagonistic parallels of Lermontov’s “Bela” to the aforementioned work. Layton sees pulp tales
such as “The Bedouin Woman” as presenting themes dealing with the intent of amorous soldiers christianizing poor Muslim girls through love, and, hence, conquering their society. These themes, of course, did not elevate public perception of the Tatar in the slightest.
Lermontov’s “Bela”, in contrast, although it does not really elevate the tatar girl or her brother to any sort of conscious level, makes a less definate proclamation of guilt. Although it is not Pechorin who eventually murders Bela, Pechorin, unlike the naive Franz, most certainly and consciously shared some portion of the blame. In “Bela”, it is most certainly, also, Pechorin, who held the corruptive influence over the pair. It seems as if Lermontov actually reversed the racial roles of the characters, making Pechorin fit some of the common stereotypes of the Tatars. Although he is by no means an exotic man, he certainly arranged her capture in a most devious way, and her seduction most certainly occured in no sterile manner. In fact, one might assume, from Bela’s eventual love (not begrudging or stale) of Pechorin, that he was not entirely unskilled in such matters. In fact, the capture alone, as we saw, even from the foreigners’ descriptions, was “characteristic” of the Tatar way of life. It is perhaps in this manner that Lermontov is able to separate race from characteristics. He ennobles the Tatars in “Bela” by portraying them as actual people, almost aside from their stereotypically prescribed qualities. By maintaining those very qualities, although in another vessel, he is able to keep the character of the story he was parodying.
It seems, then, that Lermontov, in novel ways, was able to make use of the stereotypes which we have already discussed, and which were already in use at the time, to extend the reaches of the Tatar in the reader’s mind.
Clarke, Edward. Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa; Volume I, Russia, Tartary, and Turkey. Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1811.
Dumas, Alexandre, tr. A. E. Murch. Adventures in Caucasia. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1962.
L'Ami, C. E. and Alexander Welikotny. Michael Lermontov. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1967.
Layton, Susan. Russian Literature and Empire; Conquest of the Caucases from Pushkin to Tolstoy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Lermontov, Mikhail, tr. Paul Foote. A Hero of Our Time. London: Penguin, 1966.
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