Masculinity, Force, and Colonial Conquest in Tolstoy's 'Hadji Murat'

• In Event: Russian Masculinities I: Imperial Masculinities

Abstract

Masculinity, Force, and Colonial Conquest in Tolstoy's Hadji Murat

In this paper I consider Tolstoy's last novella, Hadji Murat. I focus on how Tolstoy depicts masculinity in the novella and how his understandings of masculinity intersect with other variables, such as ethnicity. Finally, I consider how understandings of masculinity fits with the Russian colonial mission in the North Caucasus, As I argue, Tolstoy crafts his own unique understanding of masculinity in the novella which fits with his own post-conversion ideas. Withdrawal from social structures, which the author saw as inherently violent, is a key characteristic of his vision of positive masculinity. Additionally, while characters of all ethnicities (Russians, Avaris, Chechens) engage in some kind of violence, I argue that it is only in the case of Russians that Tolstoy shows brutal and often unnecessary force as a significant marker of warfare and colonial conquest. While the protagonist Hadji Murat, engages in defensive violence, the Russian characters mangle his body and bring his severed head to villages in the North Caucasus as a representation of their colonial strength. The intention behind the severed head is to reflect the immobilization and depersonalization of the colonized, while also implying the masculine strength of the colonial power. Within the context of the novella, however, Tolstoy has trained readers and some of the novella's own characters to react negatively to this type of terror-inducing masculine force.

Author

• Ani Kokobobo, U of Louisiana at Lafayette