ABSTRACT
In Russia, there are neither conceptions nor myths about Europe that do not also include Asia. It is therefore necessary first to consider Russian myths about Asia. From a Russian perspective, Europe dominates in this discourse and these myths, while Asia is subdominant. Nevertheless, my first argument is that Russia’s ambivalence towards Europe and Asia is fundamental. This is the Russian view of things. The European perspective, such as it is portrayed in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western European essays on Europe, is usually different: here Russia and Asia are simplistically equated with one another. In contrast, Russia comes to understand itself as a European culture by way of Asia and Russia’s own Asian characteristics. The way Russia perceives itself, its self-understanding, is unimaginable without the foreign, European perception of Russia.
