Article

Name: Alcohol in the Everyday Life of the Soviet North of the 1930s

Authors: Alexander I. Kulyapin

Altai State Pedagogical University, Barnaul, Russian Federation

Abstract: In the sometimes unbearable living conditions in the Arctic, the use of alcoholic beverages and hallucinogens is the only way to escape from the harsh reality. Alcohol can create the illusion of easily overcoming any obstacles and difficulties. Since the main enemy of man in the North is cold, the mythology of alcoholic “warming” is especially relevant for polar explorers. Within the framework of the Soviet Arctic utopia, it is important to take alcohol beyond commodity-money relations. In the North, the strangest transmutations of matter become reality. The Arctic is a kind of anti-world, where everything turns into its opposite. For example, the participants of the expedition “North Pole – 1” had to distill cognac into alcohol.

Keywords: alcohol, drunkenness, Arctic, mythology, ritual, symbol, semiotics of everyday life

Bibliography:

Bart R. Mifologii [Mythology]. Moscow, Sabashnikovy Publ., 1996, 313 p. (in Russ.)

Bogoraz V. G. Chukchi. Leningrad, Izd-vo Instituta narodov Severa, 1934, pt. 1, 192 p. (in Russ.)

Bogoraz V. G. Stadii razvitiya shamanizma [Stages of shamanism development]. In: Iz arkhiva. Izbrannyye trudy V. G. Bogoraza po shamanstvu (1934–1936 gg.) [From the archive. Selected works of V. G. Bogoraz on shamanism (1934–1936)]. St. Petersburg, St.-Peterb. Uni. Press, 2018, pp. 59–351. (in Russ.)

Bulgakov M. A. Blazhenstvo [Bliss]. In: Bulgakov M. A. Collected works. In 5 vols. Moscow, Khudozh. lit., 1990, vol. 3: Plays, pp. 381-422. (in Russ.)

Burlakov Yu. K. Papaninskaya chetverka: vzlety i padeniya [The Papanin Four: ups and downs]. Moscow, Evropeyskiye izdaniya, 2007, 223 p., ill. (in Russ.)

Buynov R. P. Obruchennyye s Severom. Po sledam “Dvukh kapitanov” [Engaged to the North. In the footsteps of the “Two Captains”]. Moscow, Veche, 2012, 304 p., ill. (in Russ.)

Defo D. Robinzon Kruzo [Robinson Crusoe]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola, 1990, 543 p. (in Russ.)

Fedorov E. Polyarnyye dnevniki [Polar diaries]. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1982, 312 p., ill. (in Russ.)

Gorbatov B. Obyknovennaya Arktika [Ordinary Arctic]. Moscow, GIKHL, 1959, 296 p. (in Russ.)

Kantorovich V. Nina Demme. Novyy mir [New World], 1936, no. 10, pp. 144–159. (in Russ.)

Kaverin V. A. Dva kapitana [Two captains]. In: Kaverin V. A. Collected works. In 8 vols. Moscow, Khudozh. lit., 1981, vol. 3, 634 p. (in Russ.)

Khellbek Y. Revolyutsiya ot pervogo litsa: dnevniki stalinskoy epokhi [Revolution in the First Person: Diaries of the Stalinist Era]. Moscow, Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye, 2021, 424 p. (in Russ.)

Klark K. Sovetskiy roman: istoriya kak ritual [The Soviet Novel: History as a Ritual]. Ekaterinburg: Ural Uni. Press, 2002, 262 p. (in Russ.)

Ovidiy. Skorbnyye elegii. Pis’ma s Ponta [Sorrowful Elegies. Letters from Pontus]. Moscow, Nauka, 1982, 272 p. (in Russ.)

Papanin I. D. Zhizn’ na l’dine. Dnevnik [Life on an ice floe. Diary]. Moscow, Mysl’, 1972, 310 p., with maps, ill. (in Russ.)

Popov N. D. O nenetskom literaturnom tvorchestve [About Nenets literary creativity]. Sovetskaya Arktika [Soviet Arctic], 1936, no. 7, pp. 27–31. (in Russ.)

Potebnya A. A. Slovo i mif [Word and myth]. Moscow, Pravda, 1989, 624 p. (in Russ.)

Shpanov Nik. Vo l’dy za “Italiey” [Into the ice behind “Italy”]. Moscow, Leningrad, Molodaya gvardiya, 1929, 228 p., ill. (in Russ.)

Slezkin Yu. Arkticheskiye zerkala: Rossiya i malyye narody Severa [Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North]. Moscow, Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye, 2008, 512 p. (in Russ.)

Tabelev V. F. Na Yamal’skom Severe (Zametki) [In the Yamal North (Notes)]. Sovetskaya Arktika [Soviet Arctic], 1936, no. 7, pp. 11–23. (in Russ.)

Toporov V. N. Op’yanyayushchiye napitki [Intoxicating drinks]. In: Mify narodov mira [Myths of the peoples of the world]. Encyclopedia. In 2 vols. Moscow, Sov. entsiklopediya, 1992, vol. 2, pp. 256–258. (in Russ.)

Urvantsev N. N. Dva goda na Severnoy Zemle [Two years on Severnaya Zemlya]. Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Glavsevmorputi, 1935, 366 p. (in Russ.)

Ushakov G. A. Po nekhozhenoy zemle [On untouched land]. Moscow, Molodaya gvardiya, 1953, 408 p. with ill. & maps. (in Russ.)

Vergiliy. Bukoliki. Georgiki. Eneida [Bucolic. Georgics. Aeneid]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1971, 448 p. (in Russ.)