Taras Bulba and Euphorias of Hatred

Taras Bulba is a Russian classic, based on Ukrainian folk mythology, written by the famous writer Nikolai Golga. It is a brutal, quasi-historical tale about a bloody Cossack revolt in the Ukraine fighting against invading forces from Poland. When the book was republished in 2003, Robert D. Kaplan wrote the introduction, and a similar version of that text appeared in an article in The Atlantic titled Euphorias of Hatred. There, Kaplan warned:

The novel has a Kiplingesque gusto that makes it a pleasure to read, but central to its theme is an unredemptive, darkly evil violence that is far beyond anything Kipling ever touched on. We need more works like Taras Bulba, to better understand the emotional wellsprings of the threat we face today in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Kaplan’s warnings about the “emotional wellsprings” have turned out to be like much of what he writes—prophetic. Five years later, Russia and Ukraine are vigorously fighting over which country has claim to the heritage of the violent tale. Russia has financed a $20 million dollar epic film of the story, produced over the course of three years, in a Lord of the Rings-esque epic, and is the latest salvo in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine culture war (the previous chapter of which was covered here).

What’s the big issue? Taras Bulba has long been adopted as a Ukrainian national hero. Ukrainian nationalists conveniently ignored the fact that he spoke Russian, was fighting an enemy invading from the West, and acting as a proxy for the Czar and the Orthodox faith. Russia’s purpose in making the film is explicit. The director has said that he wants to show that “there is no separate Ukraine… When two drops of mercury are near each other, they will unite. You’ve seen this. Exactly in the same way, our two peoples are united.” Fighting words directed at the heart of the Orange Revolution.

Kiev’s political elite is naturally furious, accusing Russia of “borrowing” heroes when it has none of its own, and issuing a film that smacks of propaganda reminiscent of Soviet times—but many Ukrainians have already said that they admire the film and sympathize with its themes and the call for Pan-Slavic unity. Putting that aside, the real concern for the peoples of the civilized world is that two countries are fighting for title to this shamelessly glorified violent tale. To quote Kaplan writing in 2003:

As one Cossack declares, “I need hardly tell you that a young man cannot exist without war.” In such a world the notion of a rational “balance of power” with the Catholic Poles or the Islamic Tatars is not a pragmatic goal but a corrupting and effeminate conceit. Those outside the marrow of Orthodoxy exist only to be annihilated, or to be converted en masse to the faith.

The rare breaks in the fighting are given over to “spellbinding,” prolonged drunken orgies. “The inns in the suburb were smashed,” Gogol wrote, “and the Cossacks helped themselves to mead, vodka and beer without payment, the innkeepers being too glad to escape with their lives.” Hearing stories of Catholic victories to the west, and of Jewish collusion in those victories, the Cossacks take murderous revenge on local Jews, whom they toss into the river.

We will have to watch and see how this emotional wellspring will affect the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.

ENDNOTE: Here’s the trailer: