The Ambivalence of the Odessa Image in Representations of Russians and Americans in the First Third of the 19th Century

Abstract

The author examines the image of Odessa in representations of American and Russian travelers, who visited the city in the first third of the 19^th century. On the mental map of Russia, the largest port of the newly formed Novorossiya appears as a younger sister of the imperial capital - St. Petersburg - that opens a second window to Europe in the South. Such a representation, depending on the political and historiosophical beliefs of Russian and foreign contemporaries, forms a dual nature of the image of the city. The vision of Odessa by American travelers, just starting to “invent” the image of Russian “Other” in the beginning of the 19^th century, is a matter of particular interest.