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УДК 821.161.1, 910.4
Alekseev P.V., Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Head of Department of Russian Language and Literature, Gorno-Altaisk State University (Gorno-Altaisk, Russia),
E-mail: pavel.alekseev. gasu@gmail.com
Alekseeva A.A., Secretary at Center for Science and Innovation Development, Gorno-Altaisk State University (Gorno-Altaisk, Russia), E-mail: asel.grant@mail.ru
Boone P., student, Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium), E-mail: paulien.boone@ugent.be
REMEMBERING INDIA: SOUTHERN ALTAI IN HAROLD SWAYNE'S TRAVELOGUE. In most cases, Russian and European travellers compared Altai (including southern Altai) with the Swiss Alps. In this concept, the travel narrative of the British colonial officer, hunter, and famous traveller Major Swayne is very different: in his "Through the highlands of Siberia" (1904), Altai and its inhabitants are often compared to India. In literary terms, this rare text has not been studied at all and has not yet been used as a material for constructing a metatextual and orientalist image of Altai in Russian and world literature. This article attempts to introduce Swayne's book into scientific circulation and to prove that the image of Altai in the eyes of European travellers had stable orientalist connotations at the beginning of the XX century.
Key words: India, Altai, Swayne, Orientalism, Terra Incognita, travelogue.
П.В. Алексеев, д-р филол. наук, доц., зав. каф. русского языка и литературы Горно-Алтайского государственного университета, г. Горно-Алтайск, E-mail: pavel.alekseev.gasu@gmail.com
А.А. Алексеева, секр., Центр науки и инноваций Горно-Алтайского государственного университета, г. Горно-Алтайск, E-mail: asel.grant@mail.ru П. Бооне, студентка, Гентский университет, г. Гент, E-mail: paulien.boone@ugent.be
ВСПОМИНАЯ ИНДИЮ:
ЮЖНЫЙ АЛТАЙ В ТРАВЕЛОГЕ ГАРОЛЬДА СВЕЙНА
Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ и Правительства Республики Алтай в рамках научного проекта № 18-412-040004.
В большинстве случаев Алтай (в том числе Южный Алтай) русские и европейские путешественники сравнивали со Швейцарскими Альпами. В этом отношении путевой нарратив британского колониального офицера, охотника и знаменитого путешественника Майора Свейна сильно отличается: в его травелоге «Через высокогорья Сибири» (1904) очень часто Алтай и его жители сравниваются с Индией. В литературном отношении этот редкий текст совершенно не исследован, и как материал для конструирования метатекстуального и ориенталистского образа Алтая в русской и мировой литературе еще не привлекался. В этой статье делается попытка ввести книгу Свейна в научный оборот и доказать, что образ Алтая в начале XX века в глазах европейских путешественников имел устойчивые ориенталистские коннотации.
Ключевые слова: Индия, Алтай, Свейн, ориентализм, терра инкогнита, травелог.
Major (later - Colonel) Harold George Carlos Swayne (1860-1940) was a British officer, explorer, naturalist, and big game hunter. He served the Royal Engineers of the British army in India, furthermore, he did exploratory surveys in Africa for the British authorities and during the Great War, he served the Royal Engineers Labour Battalion in France and Flanders. Between 1898 and 1927 he made more than forty privately funded trips to Africa and Asia to complete collections, see new countries, and meet new tribes as the main goal [1, p. 119-120]. Throughout his travel to Altai Major Swayne doesn't only provide us detailed travel information, he also observes and reflects on what he sees. For example, the landscapes, houses, aborigines' everyday life and it is not difficult to notice that in most cases he creates these images to legitimize his superiority, identity, and values. In this article we will try to examine why unexplored, non-Western regions of Southern Siberia received such an incredible comparison with India and how can it be explained other than the obvious Indian experience of the author.
First of all, it should be noted that the constant comparisons to India and the Indian people in «Through the highlands of Siberia» (1904) are very significant. Major H.G.C. Swayne doesn't only compare the «Siberian Highlands» he passes with the highland in India, during the book also the environment he notices and the people he meets are connected to the Indians. The first two passages illustrate the landscape comparison, the third one deals with the housing and environment and the fourth concerns the people: «We passed through the same alpine country, generally skirting the river, and crossing handsome river-terraces of smooth alpine pasture between fine mountains, the slopes of the latter reminding me of the Sindh Valley of Kashmir» [2, p. 99]; «In one pass the new road, with its timber side-posts winding down through the forest, reminded me forcibly of Murree in the Himalayas» [2, p. 205]; «The houses are built of logs with large eaved roofs - they looked exactly like the houses Anglo-Indians erect in Kashmir» [2, p. 90]; «The Ispravnik was living in a large camp of clean felt "yurtas," with a police escort and a large staff of Russians and Kalmuks, travelling comfortably in much the same style in which a deputy commissioner travels in India» [2, p. 99].
Thus, we will try to show that the semiotic basis of orientalization of Altai in Swayne's travelogue was connected with his Indian experience. However, we must understand that in addition to directly Indian comparisons, the author uses the entire arsenal of orientalist imagination, inventing for the English readers accustomed to descriptions of India, Turkey, Arabia, and America, the native population of the Altai. Going deeper into orientalist descriptions of the peoples it's important to mention the three most important groups of peoples he encounters during his travel and how they are perceived.
The first group is the Kalmuk people. In the eyes of Swayne, the Kalmuk people are not the smartest, he compares them to gypsies and although he thinks about the Altai people as pure, simple and not dangerous at all, he often talks about them in a quite denigrating way: «The peasants were patiently making the best of it under their
carts, like gypsies, the children running about with their white feet bare» [2, p. 86]. It is not clear why exactly the peasants and their children are compared to gypsies, maybe it's their Indian roots.
Another interesting description of the Kalmuk horses with their masters, the «true children of the steppe» feeds the image of the people of these regions as wild, more in contact with nature than in the «civilised world» he comes from: «There were straight-backed Russian cattle - black, white, red, or piebald - grazing in very large herds, and some Kalmuk horses with their masters, true children of the steppe, galloping wildly round them» [2, p. 94]. In the following passage, he writes about an expedition for which they had to pass the Mongolian border, during that expedition they missed a flock of wild sheep because of the Kalmuks who followed him while he had obliged them to wait where they were left: «They had become nervous, being in a strange country, and had followed us for company's sake so we made our way back to our idiotic Kalmuks» [2, p. 122].
The writer seems frustrated while telling this story. If it wasn't for the «idiotic Kalmuks» [2, p. 123] who weren't comfortable having passed the border, he would have had a trophy to bring home. It was because of their lack of experience and professionalism, he couldn't. Of course for the author, this is proof that the Kalmuk people, unlike the traveler, haven't been to other places than what they are used to. Even the smallest boundary they have to go through makes them uncomfortable and nervous. They rather stay in the places they are familiar with than to go on expeditions to another, for the author as well as for the Kalmuk people, an unknown country. He calls them stupid and he does it with so little empathy that this once more states his feeling of superiority towards the natives. In the last part of the book, the index where all important information for future travelers can be found, he once more remembers this incident: «If a man is left with them he becomes cold, lonely, and restless at your long absence, or he wants to get you back to camp so that he can «chai pit» (drink tea). Then he appears on the skyline of a hill just as you are taking your shot, and away goes the flock» [2, p. 240].
As this part of the book includes important information and tips for anyone interested in visiting the region, it's not very professional, and simultaneously ungrateful of our author to remember the people who were always at his service in such a way. The last thing he writes about them is an ironic memory of the unfortunate outcome of one of his expeditions after wild sheep. He once more describes the inexperience of the Kalmuk people, their unease of being away from home, and their only will, which is to drink tea. With such a generalization at the end of the book, their almost is no other way than that the reader draws negative conclusions from the Kalmuks. The second group to discuss are the Kirghiz people, who in the eyes of the author seem richer and far more intelligent than the Kalmuk people: «We had tea among the Kirghiz, who seem to be very rich people, and far more intelligent than the Kalmuks» [2, p. 194].
As the writer only has a few encounters with the Kirghiz (Kazakh) people and therefore the documentation on them is limited, it is unclear why exactly he was so sure
of the different standards of the Kirghiz people. The most probable reason is that it had something to do with the means and behavior of the latter. Once when Major Swayne came back from one of his hunting marches, he notices Kirghiz «yurtas» and horsemen surrounded by a flock of wild sheep, yaks, horses, and camels. Furthermore, they had dogs that were ready to attack intruders at any time. It seems like the author is surprised by their housing and capability. Out of this passage, one can conclude that his relationship with the Kirghiz was different than with the Kalmuks. The «far more intelligent» [2, p. 194] can be explained by the author's perception of intelligence, they are a bit closer to his standards than the Kalmuk people and the fact that he has tea among them proves he doesn't put himself above them as much as he does with the Kalmuk people. The Kirghiz people are perceived as «far more intelligent» because they are voluntarily hospitable, unlike the Kalmuks, who are just there to grant their requests for a fee.
The last group is a somewhat more complex case but we should comment it apart from both the Kalmuk and Kirghiz people - Swayne describes a Russian man he meets at the end of his journey when he is already making his way back to England. He describes this man as a true Siberiak. Although he was also from the Altai region and the author had met so many other natives, only in this case the term Siberiak was used. It is so interesting because in this passage he informs us directly on how he or the West in general would describe a true Siberian man. Without hesitation, he names all the stereotypes one can think of. Unintentionally and despite his so-called humble spirit, Swayne feeds a particular image, known in the West and supports the generalization of a people. The passage that follows is the reaction of the author when his drunk helper insisted on shaking grubby hands with him and his companion said he liked their English and that they were his mom and dad just like some Indian servant.
In the book, he doesn't state why the country reminds him of India in such a particular way. He describes a certain matter and immediately afterward he adds «which reminds me of India» (the word India appears more than 20 times throughout the text of the travelogue). For the reader, it is not easy to see and understand the similarities, as it is not very common to draw a parallel between those two regions, though for our writer it is. Undoubtedly, these similarities are the result of many years spent in India. Supposedly, he felt the same way as when he served the British Army in Indian wild regions: he was as usual richer, smarter, and more skillful than the natives. And he has an entourage of wild people who are responsible for his safety, transport, and well-being throughout his journey: «Beside myself, there were Seton Karr and the two Cattleys, Matai, a Russianised Kalmuk, who was my tent-boy, my Kalmuk cook, two hunters, six pony drivers, and eight pack-ponies» [2, p. 109].
This of course feeds the image of the British traveler who can afford such facilities because of his standards obtained during his life in the modern, civilized world. According to Sara Mills, it is an important sign of the superiority of the traveler towards the native people [3]. We can explain the similarities between his relationship with the Kalmuk people and the Indians by the same class differences he encountered during his time in India. Maybe the wide, open spaces remind him of Murree in the Himalayas or the Sindh Valley in Kashmir because of their enormous space and their little population. But of course, there is a good question why the author doesn't draw parallels or notices similarities with the many other places he had seen during his exploratory surveys in Africa between 1884 and 1897 or his privately funded trips between 1898 and 1927 to Africa and Asia - undoubtedly, the wide valleys and a small number of local tribes are not a unique quality of the Altai landscape. It is rather hard to believe that Swayne had no other options for comparisons than India when we know that the Western orientalist discourses had so many great images of the unexplored, exotic, non-Western regions. Besides, in 1903, a year before the publication of the Altai travelogue, he published a very detailed 450-page work about his adventures in Abyssinia, «Seventeen trips through Somaliland and a visit to Abyssinia: with a supplementary preface on the 'Mad Mullah' risings» (1903) [4]. The title of the book was decorated with a black-and-white photograph of Swayne sitting with a rifle in his hands, surrounded by a large number of African retinue. A few years later, he would travel to Africa again, accompanied by his cousin, Frances Swayne, who published a remarkable book «A Woman's Pleasure Trip in Somaliland» (1907) [5], following the well-trodden path of Harald.
Библиографический список / References
Probably, there were other more significant reasons to compare Altai with India-both political and mythological. Speaking about the political plan, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that since the time of the Atkinsons' trip and the publication of their books «Oriental and Western Siberia. A narrative of seven years' explorations and adventures in Siberia, Mongolia, the Kirgiz Steppes, Chinese Tartary and Part of the Central Asia, with a map and numerous illustrations» and «Recollections of the Tartar Steppes and Their Inhabitants» [6, 7], the British government has not stopped closely monitoring the progress of the Russian Empire in the Asian region, feeling a well-justified fear for the safety of their Indian colonies. We can assume that a former military officer involved in the circles of colonial administrations (Swayne's brother was the Governor of British Honduras) and colonial projects (Swayne's research on Somalia funded by Indian Government provided a significant service to the British army in suppressing the «Mad Mullah's rebellion») may have had a government assignment to study the area of the Russian-Chinese border. Swain's unwitting Indian associations in this case can be explained by the «Freudian reservation»: concerned for the Indian possessions, the Englishman compared two completely different spaces.
The mythological reason lies in the semiotics of travel as a way of self-knowledge, passing through the trials of hell. According to D. Liutikas, tourism may be used to manifest one's identity or values [8, p. 218]. Concerning the difference, a person constructs his or her own identity which helps to establish an independent individual. Following Vynckier, during the colonial period, European imperial service was even seen as a rite of passage, through the confrontation with the harsh climate and the primitive customs of the conquered natives, young civil servants could energize their manhood and discover their true selves [9, p. 866]. Very interesting for this case is that it's not the author's main purpose to inform us about the conditions in these regions. He takes the reader with him during his hunting expeditions and writes a book that can be used by other hunters who aren't familiar with the countries he traveled to. He approaches it as descriptions, without further intentions describing his experiences. However, if we focus on these descriptions, even though they might be innocent, several elements lead to the reader's perception of a cultivated, civilized man on an expedition to an unexplored, less-civilized country. You get the feeling that the author, due to his level of civilization and his twenty years of experience in the East, felt in the right position to criticize and capable of evaluating the way of life of the peoples in the visited regions. In some passages his irony is so clear, his frustration so great, his confusion so real that even though the author assures his opinions were done in such a humble spirit, it is worth focussing on these representations.
At the beginning of the book, for example, there is a passage which shows us very clearly that this trip is to get away from the civilized world, the travel he is about to make will serve as a detox from the world he had known for all those years: «A pleasant thing it is to get away to a bit of wild nature, away from the sameness and sometimes vulgarity of our modern civilisation, to the long green slopes which lead to virgin snow-peaks, in a high borderland possessing such a rugged form and such a winter climate that it will ever be independent of man» [2, p. ix].
Following Vynckier such a journey can be approached as some exotic hades. He notices a resemblance between traveling to unknown countries and the Greek concept of katabasis the descent into the underworld. Although it's the product of a mythological and theological world view, through thousands of years it has always been preserved as an inextricable theme in Western literature. What is extremely important for this discourse is the fact that in modern times many authors seized upon the discourse of «katabasis» in their literary representations of the distant lands of non-European civilizations. In the article, he states that in most of the European literature of travel from almost any historical period, one can find the remarkable view that non-Western regions are «exotic or cross-cultural Hades», mysterious environments comparable to the mythical underworlds which the Europeans have long known from famous stories and images in the classical literature and Christian religion of Western culture. These assumptions might seem quite radical, as the author doesn't benefit from proving their inferiority towards the Western, European world. And even if he states that it's a pleasant thing to get away from his modern civilization, we have a lot of reasons to relate it to the manifestation of his European identity and his European values as well.
1. Barclay E.N. Big game shooting records: together with biographical notes and anecdotes on the most prominent big game hunters of ancient and modern times. London, 1932.
2. Swayne H.G.C. Through the Highlands of Siberia. London: Rowland Ward, 1904.
3. Mills S. Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism. London: Routledge, 1991.
4. Swayne H.G.C. Seventeen trips through Somaliland and a visit to Abyssinia: with supplementary preface on the 'Mad Mullah' risings. London: Rowland Ward, 1903.
5. Swayne F. A Woman's Pleasure Trip in Somaliland: Illustrated by Sixty-One Photographs Taken by the Author and by a Sketch Map of the District Round Berbera. Bristol: John Wright & Co. and London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1907.
6. Atkinson T.W. Oriental and Western Siberia. A narrative of seven years' explorations and adventures in Siberia, Mongolia, the Kirgiz Steppes, Chinese Tartary and Part of the Central Asia, with a map and numerous illustrations. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1858.
7. Atkinson L. Recollections of the Tartar Steppes and Their Inhabitants. London: J. Murray, 1863.
8. Liutikas D. The Manifestation of Values and Identity in Travelling: The Social Engagement of Pilgrimage. Tourism Management Perspectives. 2017; № 24: 217 - 224.
9. Vynckier H. Exotic Hades: The Representation of Alien Lands As Underworlds in European Literature. History of European Ideas. 1992; № 14 (6): 863 - 876.
Статья поступила в редакцию 03.06.20
