теория is roughly anything we do and the
Culture
monkeys don’t.—Lord Raglan
Russia’s
Latin Lover
By Daria Vaisman
Photos by Julia Vishnevetskaya
Returning from a trip to the that they missed their turn on line. When
highlands—force-fed shashlyk and they explained to God that they were feasting
toasted until half-blind—a friend once to Him—capisce?—the Lord gave them
compared Georgian hospitality to a the piece of real estate he’d been saving for
subtle form of hostage-taking. (Another himself. A quick scan of the formerly Soviet
friend recently told me of going to the landscape, and you have to admit that the
post office with a package. “Why are Georgians make a point. While most of the
you sending this?” the woman asked). territory is a vast and featureless place—
As inappropriately friendly countries misery soaked into the land itself, if you go in
go, Georgia ranks near the top.But for pathetic fallacies—Georgia is all wine and
combine the Georgian impulse to feed mountain and sun. This, of course, affected
and fete with the Georgian man, and the Georgian people, and had the Soviet
you’re left with something else: chivalry. Union had novelty stores (or irony), it would
For as long as there has been the have also had “Georgia is for Lovers” mugs.
Russian writer, there has been the So in the Soviet system of economic
Georgian man, a character whose rak- specialization, where each country was
ishness and louche, irresistible con- designated with a primary commodity
tempt have occupied the Slavic imag- to produce, Georgia’s was pleasure.
ination for centuries. In sheer market- If you wanted to drill oil, weaponize
ability, only the Italian man has come anthrax, or find a suitably desolate
close. And while I can personally attest site on which to build a gulag, you
that much of the stereotype is, in fact, went somewhere else. But if you were
true, the Georgian man is in large part in the mood to catch a puppet show,
a PR invention that starts, like most get pleasantly buzzed on homemade
things in Georgia, with God. wine, or eat an outstanding peach,
When God was giving out land, the story Georgia was your place. The food was
goes, the Georgians were so busy feasting better here, the weather balmier, the
readrussia.com/2008/WiNTer/ 46
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