Russian Cold

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).

“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

• Part I: FoundationsIntroduction: The Russian ColdJulia Herzberg, Andreas Renner, Ingrid SchierleChapter 1. Climate Ideas and the Cold in RussiaJulia HerzbergPart II: Science and PoliticsChapter 2. The Nature of Cold: Russia’s Climate and the Academy of Sciences in the Eighteenth CenturyJulia HerzbergChapter 3. The Russian South Pole Expedition in the Context of Political Interests of the Soviet Union during the Cold War eraErki TammiksaarChapter 4. The Subarctic: A Classic Soviet Study of the TundraDenis J. B. ShawPart III: Images and NarrativesChapter 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 1900sNataliia RodiginaChapter 6. Local Warming: Cold, Ice and Snow in Russian and Soviet CinemaOksana BulgakowaChapter 7. The Aesthetics of Cold: Narrating National Trauma in FilmRoman MauerPart IV: Pain and PleasureChapter 8. The Wehrmacht and the Russian Winter: The Impact of Climate at the Front and in Soviet CaptivityAleksandr KuzminykhChapter 9. Winter Tourism and Skiing in the Soviet Union: School of Courage, Source of Health, National PastimeAleksei PopovChapter 10. Heroes of the Ice: The Polar Explorer and the Hockey Player as Two Masculine Identity Scripts of the Soviet EraAlexander AnanyevConclusionJulia Herzberg, Andreas Renner, Ingrid Schierle