Discovery of Tuva in Orientalist optics (Sergei Mintslov and Otto Maenchen-Helfen)
Открытие Тувы в ориенталистской оптике (Сергей Минцлов и Отто Менхен-Хельфен)
Shafranskaya E.F. Garipova G.T. Shaimerdenova N.Zh.
2024Ch. K. Lamazhaa
New Research of Tuva
2024Issue 1121 - 134 pp.
The article explores the literary travelogues by S. R. Mintsov and O. Menchen-Helfen, through whose writings Tuva came to be known to the world in the early 20th century, to Americans and Europeans alike, including Russians. The authors set out to analyze Tuva’s image as seen through the lens of Orientalist studies (a body of techniques and approaches), which constitutes the main focus of their work. In S. R. Mintsov’s travelogue “Secret Assignment: A Journey to Uryanhai” (published in 1915), Tuva is presented as a mysterious land. The article notes the reference points that informed the traveler’s perception of Tuva, which would later become hallmarks of the region’s image: its natural beauty and its cultural artifacts, as well as its unique anthropological characteristics that distinguish it from other cultures. The Austrian historian Otto Menchen-Helfen, in his travelogue “Journey to Asian Tuva”, published in 1931, follows in the footsteps of Sergey Mintslov by understanding the culture of Tuva, including its daily life, holidays, nature, economy, and infrastructure from the late 1920s. However, one significant difference is that, like the people of Tuva, Menchen-Helfen is under the careful watch of the Soviet government.
orientalism , Otto Menchen-Helfen , Sergey Mintslov , travelogue , Tuva
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Institute of Humanities, Moscow City University, Russian Federation
Department of History of Russian Literature of Contemporary Times, Russian State University for the Humanities, Office 1, 4 2nd Sel’skokhozyaistvennyi proezd, Moscow, 1129226, Russian Federation
6, Miusskaya av., Moscow, 125047, Russian Federation
Department of Philology and Linguoculturology, A. N. Kosygin Russian State University, Office 1, 4 2nd Sel’skokhozyaistvennyi proezd, Moscow, 1129226, Russian Federation
Malaya Kaluzhskaya St., Moscow, 119071, Russian Federation
Department of Russian Philology and World Literature, Research Institute of Turkic and Altaic Studies, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 71/27 Al-Farabi Av., Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Institute of Humanities
Department of History of Russian Literature of Contemporary Times
6, Miusskaya av., Moscow, 125047, Russian Federation
Department of Philology and Linguoculturology
Malaya Kaluzhskaya St.
Department of Russian Philology and World Literature
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