Notes

Because Russia (and the Soviet Union which for a time contained Russia) occupies a vast and diverse land mass, and because the history in this vast region of transition from traditional cultures to something approximating “modernity” has been so radical, this collection must of necessity have an introductory character in considering Russia’s water stories and their origin. Water is part of the modern history of violence as an intrinsic part of the construction history of hydro-power, but water is also a potent symbol of creative thinking and poetic imagination. The volume presents the foundational importance of water as investigated here in all its many forms; water nourishing body and soul, individual and polis, imagination and rhetoric, artistic and engineer. The chapters collected here suggest that water is a concern not only of the natural sciences but also a cognitive and cultural medium of social imagination and political power.