The Construction of Italy in Soviet Travelogues

Abstract

At the focus of the article is Aimée Beekman’s travelogue Plastmassist südamega madonna (A Madonna With a Plastic Heart, 1963). Using imagology (or image studies) as the theoretical basis, the article analyses the Soviet Estonian author’s image of Italy in order to see what characterises the Soviet travelogue. In the depiction of the other and construction of the capitalist West, Soviet society is also depicted. The Soviet travelogue deals with certain topics from a Soviet point of view using Soviet rhetoric and logic. The Soviet travelogue differs from the earlier travelogue tradition in the manner of Friedebert Tuglas which entwined the history- and art-books the author had read with personal impressions. The Tuglas-like travelogue is both educative and enjoyable to read. The Soviet travelogue tends to remain a onesided description of the places seen; it does not dug deeper into the twists of mind and developments of topics. The Soviet ideology strongly influenced the text written.

Keywords

• Estonian travelogues
• Aimée Beekman
• image studies
• Italy
• Soviet ideology