Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 6 – Given how
many peoples live in or near Russia, two scholars say, it is “curious” that
Russians from imperial times until now have told ethnic jokes about only a
small number of them, including most prominently Armenians and Gypsies in late
imperial times, Georgians, Chukchis, Ukrainians and Jews in Soviet times, and
Estonians now.
In the current issue of
“Otechestvennyye zapiski,” Aleksey Smelyev and Elena Smelyeva stress among
other things that “now, if one begins with formal state borders, Ukrainians,
Georgians and Estonians should be characterized as ‘foreigners.’” But “despite
that,” they retain in Russian humor status of “’inogorodtsy’ – peoples who live
alongside Russians but do not fully master the Russian language and are
distinguished from Russians by definite aspects of character and everyday
behavior” (magazines.russ.ru/oz/2014/4/12sch.html).
The two longtime specialists on
humor in Russia – they are the authors of numerous articles and books on the
subject over the last two decades -- say that “one should not give too great
significance to the ethnic stereotypes on which the anecdotes are formed,” but
argue jokes do provide insight into these stereotypes and cannot be understood
apart from them.
“Each of the typical figures of
anecdotes about inogorodtsy,” they point out, features “special characteristic
aspects.” Georgians, at least in Soviet
times, were presented a hospitable but fundamentally dishonest about his own
nature, at least in interactions with Russians. And threy provide several
anecdotes as examples.
One goes as follows: A Russian journalist asks an elderly Georgian
how he has managed to live so long. The Georgian replies: “’I didn’t drink, I
didn’t smoke, and all my life I have avoided women.’” But then someone noisily
breaks into the room. Asked who it is, the first Georgian replies: “’My older
brother has returned, drunk as always, and with some girls.’”
The Smelyevs also note that in
Russian jokes about Georgians, the Georgians always speak to each other and to
Russians using the second person singular because using the more formal second
person plural “is too formal and would destroy the stereotypical image of the
Georgian” in Russian minds.
Russian anecdotes about Chukchis are
very different, the two say. In Russian
humor, “the Chukchi is Rousseau’s natural man who has fallen into what is for
him an alien urban technocratic civilization.”
He appears “stupid only because” he tries to live in the city “according
to the laws of the taiga.” At home, they say, the Chukchi is “clever and smart.”
But Georgians and Chukchis, they
continue, as objects of humor share one thing in common: they “always function
as persons of a Russian anecdote” rather than being the subject of jokes from their
own culture translated into Russian.
Anecdotes about Jews, far more often have their roots in Jewish humor
and are simply translated and always use the formal second person plural.
Jews in Russian anecdotes, the two
analysts say, are “characterized by qualities which are radically different
from the Georgians and Chukchis.” They often take the form of responding to a
question with a question, value sympathy over compliments, and invite the
hearer to share the Jewish understanding of the situation.
They give two examples of this. In
one, one Jew asks another “’Sara, you remember Isa who lived opposite the
prison?’ Yes, comes the reply. ‘Well, now he lives opposite his own home.’” And
in the other, Rabinovich is asked whether he has ever tried sex with two
partners. Rabinovich says no, but then his interlocutor says “’then run home
and perhaps you’ll be able to.’”
“Certain characteristics of Jews in
Russian anecdotes have changed little over the course of more than a
century-long history of the existence of this series,” the Smelyevs say. Jews in these anecdotes are intelligent,
clever, good at business, and often physically weak – although after the 1967
war, the last feature was modified.
The authors recount the following
anecdote from that time. US President Lyndon Johnson asks Israel for assistance
in Vietnam. The Israelis say they’ll send five soldiers. Johnson wants to know
why they won’t send more, perhaps at least ten. The Israeli response: “’Are you
planning to fight with China?’”
The recent wave
of jokes about Estonians among Russians is perhaps especially suggestive now,
the two writers say. Most of these anecdotes focus on what Russians see as “the
super-natural deliberateness” with which Estonians speak and with which they
approach all issues.
They recount the following story: An
Estonian couple visits a market in the Middle East. One Arab there asks the man
if he will take 50 camels in exchange for his wife. The Estonia reflects “for
ten minutes, for 15 … for 20.” His wife
is furious that he hasn’t rejected the idea out of hand. The Estonian husband
replies that he had to calculate whether he could put 50 camels in their
apartment.
The Smelyevs stress that despite
Estonia being an independent country, Russians continue to joke about them in the
way that they joke about people who live within Russia rather than about those
who don’t. In some ways, Russians do the same with regard to Ukrainians as well
but with one important difference.
In anecdotes about other peoples
whom Russians view as minorities within their own country, the non-Russians
involved are presented as speaking Russian poorly but with distinctive deviations
from the rules. But in the case of Ukrainians, Russians attempt to “imitate
Ukrainian speech” itself.
“In other words, the speech of a
Georgian, a Chukchi or a Jew in an anecdote is Russian speech with this or that
deviation from the norm,” the Smelyevs say, “but the speech of the Ukrainian is
Ukrainian speech with deviations” reflecting the level of knowledge of
Ukrainian by the Russian teller.
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