French Literature Reviews - 2026
The West as Seen from Russia: An Anthology of Russian Thought from Karamzin to Putin.
History, Politics and Society
The West as Seen from Russia: An Anthology of Russian Thought from Karamzin to Putin. The West as a Model to Imitate, Catch Up With, Surpass, Regenerate, or Reject?
Selected, introduced, and translated by Michel Niqueux. Preface by Georges Nivat, Institut d'études slaves, coll. "Bibliothèque russe de l'Institut d'études slaves, no. 134", 2016. EAN13: 9782720405457.
Straddling Europe and Asia—which invaded it on several occasions—devoid of a Greco-Roman or Catholic heritage, and forcibly westernized (in its upper strata) by Peter the Great who, at the beginning of the 18th century, "cut a window onto Europe," Russia has made its relationship with the West not only a geopolitical issue, but also an existential and philosophical one. At stake are its national identity, its social and political organization, its "soul" or "civilization," and the connection of the latter with the "universal values" of the Enlightenment. Since the early 19th century, Russian writers and thinkers have debated and divided over the paths of Russia's development: should they protect Russia from the European poison of atheism and depravity (M. Magnitsky, 1820), save Europe from decadence (A. Krayevsky, 1837), or become Russians with a European spirit (V. Belinsky, 1841), and follow the same path as Western Europe, guarding against its mistakes (N. Dobrolyubov, 1859), only to later catch up with and surpass it, as the Bolsheviks desired? The current "conservative revolution," which is developing in reaction to perestroika, with its anti-Westernism, denunciation of the decadence of the "rotten" West, rejection of the liberal-democratic model in favor of an original Russian or Eurasian path (A. Dugin, 2011), cannot be understood without going back to the debates of the first half of the 19th century, which remain astonishingly topical.
Without equivalent in any language, this anthology—with its numerous texts translated into French for the first time, its introductory notices making it accessible to the general public, and its lack of bias—provides a comprehensive and in-depth view of Russia's intellectual and ideological relationship with the West (featuring 140 authors, reflecting a complex and varied reality far better than the few dozen names usually referred to). Over a span of more than two centuries, readers can trace the evolution of antagonistic ideas stemming, on the one hand, from the French Enlightenment (human rights, the rule of law, democracy, the principle of the individual, cosmopolitanism) and, on the other hand, from German Romanticism (national genius, national individuality, idealism), as well as the persistence of historiosophical myths that underlie Russia's alterity and its salvific or regenerating mission. This work is essential for anyone interested in Russia, past or present, or wishing to follow the destiny of European ideas on Russian soil.
Michel Niqueux is Professor Emeritus at the University of Caen Normandy.
CONTENTS
Preface. Georges Nivat, Russian Thought and Its Double
Summary
Introduction. The West: A Philosophical Problem for Russia
I - The Question of Imitation (first quarter of the 19th century)
Nikolay Karamzin: From the Enlightenment to Conservatism
"Russia Must No Longer Be Europe's Pupil"
II. The Ideological Construction of the Russia-West Difference and Russian Messianism
(second quarter of the 19th century)
The Search for National Identity, around S. Uvarov and the Ministry of Public Education
Mikhail Pogodin; Nikolai Gogol
The Slavophiles and the "Malady" of the West
Ivan Kireyevsky; Aleksey Khomyakov; Yury Samarin
The Rotten(ing) West
III - European Russians (1830s–1850s)
Pyotr Chaadayev, the Iconoclast
Vissarion Belinsky: From the National to the Universal
Alexander Herzen, a Disenchanted Westernizer
IV - The Great Controversy: Orthodoxy and "Latinism"
(second half of the 19th century)
Rejection of "Latinism" (Fyodor Tyutchev; Aleksey Khomyakov)...
...or Attraction to Catholicism: Vladimir Solovyov and the Union of Churches
Alexander Kireyev and the Old Catholics
V - Nationalism and Europeanism: Variations on Old Themes
(second half of the 19th century)
Konstantin Aksakov; Ivan Aksakov: Civilization or Enlightenment?
Nikolay Strakhov: Rootedness in Russian Soil
The Personalism of Konstantin Kavelin
Dostoevsky's Universalist Nationalism
Nikolay Danilevsky and the Rejection of Eurocentrism
Konstantin Leontyev, Against Leveling Cosmopolitanism
Vladimir Solovyov: Christian Universalism Against Nationalism
VI - At the Turn of the Century: Between Marxism and Idealism
Russian Populism: How to Avoid Capitalism?
Marxism, the Highest Stage of Westernism?
Nikolai Berdyaev and the Messianic Synthesis of East and West
Russia in the European War
VII - From Internationalism to National Bolshevism
(1917–1987)
"Catch Up with and Surpass America"
From Internationalism to National Bolshevism
Zhdanovism: The Campaign Against "Servility to the West" and "Cosmopolitanism"
VIII - In Emigration: Tested by Europe
Eurasianism; Nikolai Trubetzkoy
Around Spengler's The Decline of the West
Religious Thinkers and the Encounter with the West
IX - Perestroika and Counter-Perestroika
"Common European Home" or Eurasia?
Before Perestroika: Independent Voices
Perestroika. Mikhail Gorbachev
Neo-Eurasianism: A Conservative Revolution
Farewell to Europe? What Is to Be Done?
Appendices
Note on the translation of civilisation and culture.
Bibliography
Thematic Index
Index of Personal Names
List of Illustrations
m.niqueux@wanadoo.fr
This volume gathers historical writings that trace how Russian intellectuals and political figures have conceptualized their country's relationship with Western Europe over more than two centuries. The texts selected by Michel Niqueux illustrate enduring questions regarding national identity, political organization, and cultural orientation, spanning from the early nineteenth century through the Soviet era and up to contemporary debates on Eurasianism and conservatism. Readers interested in the history of political ideas and international relations may find it relevant to examine how these recurring themes have shaped modern perspectives on Russia and the West.
The compilation covers diverse intellectual currents, including early debates on imitation and rejection, the divergence between Slavophiles and Westernizers, and twentieth-century ideological shifts under Marxism and nationalism. By presenting numerous translated texts from a wide range of authors, the collection documents the complex interplay between European Enlightenment values, German Romanticism, and indigenous Russian philosophical traditions. It provides structured access to source materials that highlight the long-standing tensions between universalism and national distinctiveness in Russian intellectual history.