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2016/2017 French Nineteenth-Century Travel

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2016/2017 French Nineteenth-Century Travel 2016/2017 FRENCH NINETEENTH-CENTURY TRAVEL LITERATURE ON RUSSIA Master in East European Studies Amsterdam, 3 July 2017 Master Thesis directed by Dr. C.U. Noack 1 There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign. - Robert Louis Stevenson 2 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Christian Noack, for his help, feedback and interest in my progress during my Master thesis and during the East European Studies Master program. Furthermore, I would like to thank everyone at the University of Amsterdam who has accompanied me during the year. Finally, I wish to thank my proof-readers and my family for their advice and support. 3 Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Methods of research .......................................................................................................................... 10 Border crossing into Russia ................................................................................................................... 11 Madame de Staël ............................................................................................................................... 11 Jacques Ancelot ................................................................................................................................. 11 Astolphe de Custine........................................................................................................................... 12 Charles de Saint-Julien ...................................................................................................................... 12 Alexandre Dumas (père) ................................................................................................................... 12 Théophile Gautier .............................................................................................................................. 13 Armand Silvestre ............................................................................................................................... 13 I - Moscow in nineteenth-century travel literature ................................................................................ 14 Madame de Staël ............................................................................................................................... 15 Jacques Ancelot ................................................................................................................................. 16 Astolphe de Custine........................................................................................................................... 16 Charles de Saint-Julien ...................................................................................................................... 18 Alexandre Dumas (père) ................................................................................................................... 20 Théophile Gautier .............................................................................................................................. 20 Armand Silvestre ............................................................................................................................... 21 Comparison ....................................................................................................................................... 22 II - St. Petersburg in nineteenth century travel writings ........................................................................ 24 Madame de Staël ............................................................................................................................... 24 Jacques Ancelot ................................................................................................................................. 25 Astolphe de Custine........................................................................................................................... 28 Charles de Saint-Julien ...................................................................................................................... 30 Alexandre Dumas (père) ................................................................................................................... 31 Théophile Gautier .............................................................................................................................. 32 Armand Silvestre ............................................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 36 III - The Russian people in nineteenth-century travel writings ............................................................. 37 Madame de Staël ............................................................................................................................... 37 Jacques Ancelot ................................................................................................................................. 41 Astolphe de Custine........................................................................................................................... 44 Charles de Saint-Julien ...................................................................................................................... 46 Théophile Gautier .............................................................................................................................. 47 Alexandre Dumas (père) and Armand Silvestre ................................................................................ 48 4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Departures from the Russian Empire .................................................................................................... 50 Madame de Staël ............................................................................................................................... 50 Jacques Ancelot ................................................................................................................................. 50 Astolphe de Custine........................................................................................................................... 51 Charles de Saint-Julien ...................................................................................................................... 51 Alexandre Dumas (père) ................................................................................................................... 52 Théophile Gautier .............................................................................................................................. 52 Armand Silvestre ............................................................................................................................... 52 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 54 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 57 5 Introduction The intellectual curiosity for Russia was already instigated during the eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. This included the quite unexplored Russian Empire, at that time still a remote area of the world. Especially when political instability occurred due to the French Revolution and Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, Russia became a more common destination among French writers, due to an improved transport system which made travel become easier in the course of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, after Napoleon’s forced retreat out of Moscow, Russia’s status as a great power was solidified with the Congress of Vienna, becoming the warrant of the conservative European order against the disorder of revolutions. The aim of this study is to examine the travel accounts of seven French writers who visited Moscow and St. Petersburg during the nineteenth century. On their journey, they wrote about their experiences, adventures and, above all, their perceptions of Russia and its people. The aim is to uncover the French attitude towards Russia and to measure to what extent these travellers recognised or evaluated the elements they encountered according to a scheme that juxtaposed Europe and the Orient. Thus, the primary subject of this thesis is the nineteenth century French perspective on Russia. Travel writing not only informs its readers on the discovery of new lands, but describes them as either converging or diverging with the readers’ culture(s) and values. Too often, as Alessandro Vitale pointed out, the descriptions of Russia given by Westernizers or Slavophiles within Russia reflect too much on geopolitical aspirations, rather than on interpretations of lifestyle and cultural patterns.1 Travel accounts might thus provide a useful alternative to interpret if nineteenth century Russia was depicted as European or Oriental in French travel writings. In order to provide a clear structure for the theoretical framework, the key concepts associated with this thesis and the research question will be discussed in this chapter. The ideas of Otherness (‘Self and Other’), Orientalism, Europeanness, and Euro-Orientalism
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