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"Joanna Hubbs has found the trace of Baba Yaga and the rusalki and Moist Mother Earth and other fascinating feminine myths in Russian culture, and has added richly to the growing interest in popular culture." -New York Times Book Review
" . . . brave . . . fascinating . . . immensely enjoyable . . . " -Times Higher Education Supplement
" . . . a stimulating and original study . . . vivid and readable." -Russian Review
"An immensely stimulating, beautifully written work of scholarship." -Francine du Plessix Gray
"Joanna Hubbs has provided scholars . . . with a wealth of significant interpretive material to inform if not reform views of both Russian and women's cultures." -Journal of American Folklore
A ground-breaking interpretation of Russian culture from prehistory to the present, dealing with the feminine myth as a central cultural force.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Russia as Mother
Part One: Mothers
Chapter One: The First Mothers
Chapter Two: Reconstructing the Russian Great Goddess: Rusalki and Baba Yaga
Chapter Three: Reconstructing the Russian Great Goddess: Mother Earth
Chapter Four: The Coming of Christianity: Mary and Paraskeva-Piatnitsa
Part Two: Mothers' Sons
Chapter Five: Epic Heroes and Disobedient Sons
Chapter Six: From Saintly Son to Autocratic Father: The Myth of the Ruler
Chapter Seven: Pushkin and Other Champions from the Intelligentsia
Conclusion: The Mother as Russia
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Illustrations follow p. 123
About the author
Joanna Hubbs
Summary
A ground-breaking interpretation of Russian culture from prehistory to the present, dealing with the feminine myth as a central cultural force
