What trees mean to Russia, through a history of war and peace
Russian forests, like this one of larch trees in southern Siberia, have given rise to ancient folklore as well as modern conservation efforts.
Ilya Naymushin/Sputnik/AP/File
Forests appear throughout Russian folklore, literature, and film, serving not only as safe hiding places and menacing dark realms, but also as cultural touchstones.
In 鈥淭he Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its Empires,鈥� Sophie Pinkham, a professor of comparative literature at Cornell University, examines the relationship of Russia and its trees. As she unfolds the history of land use, she also emphasizes the urgency of protecting this vital natural resource 鈥� not just for the region, but also for the planet.
鈥淩ussia has more trees than there are stars in our galaxy,鈥� she writes in the introduction. 鈥淔rom the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Arctic to the steppes of Central Asia, Russia鈥檚 forests account for nearly one-fifth of the world鈥檚 forest cover. It is not surprising, then, that ... the forest has been at the heart of national identity.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
Sophie Pinkham鈥檚 book, 鈥淭he Oak and the Larch,鈥� traces how Russian history and literature have shaped 鈥� and been shaped by 鈥� the country鈥檚 deep forests. Russia鈥檚 trees account for nearly one-fifth of the world鈥檚 forest cover, and Pinkham urges protection of this vital natural resource, not just for the region but also for the planet.
She focuses on how Russian literature and cinema have spurred resistance to the exploitation of natural resources by heedless and myopic rulers. 鈥淲ith its power to leap across boundaries of time, space, and identity,鈥� writes Pinkham, 鈥渓iterature is an ideal dwelling place for new visions of society and nature. This is why writers have pride of place in this book.鈥�
One of the greatest literary champions of the forest was the 19th-century novelist Leo Tolstoy, who 鈥渦sed the royalties he had earned from War and Peace to buy more than fifty thousand birch and fir seedlings. Most writers merely turn trees into books; he closed the loop, turning his novel into a forest.鈥�
In Pinkham鈥檚 telling, forests were Russia鈥檚 birthright, but in the quest for empire, the trees that had protected the country from invasions became targets. Czar Peter the Great鈥檚 鈥減assion for the sea鈥� led to the massive clearing of western Russia鈥檚 oldest forests. Trees were simply material for his navy; it required 鈥渇our to ten thousand oaks to make a warship.鈥�
The southern forests once shielded the various peoples of the Caucasus from the ever-encroaching Russian empire: 鈥淢ountains were immutable, but forests could be cut down. The Russians ... would expand their own empire by cutting down the forest of their enemies,鈥� Pinkham writes. The 19th century brought the arrival of another modern wonder that impacted the environment: the railroad, 鈥渁 machine for devouring forests.鈥�
Josef Stalin depleted the forests鈥� resources until the economics of preservation outweighed the costs of exploitation. 鈥淭he best strategy to save the forests,鈥� conservationists saw, 鈥渨as to treat their preservation as instrumental to Soviet modernization. This was a precursor to more recent ideas that ecological protections must be justified with economic rationales.鈥�
While Pinkham keeps herself out of the narrative, it is clear she believes these priceless forests should be appreciated for their own sake, not just for what they provide humans.
She describes filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky鈥檚 depiction of the sacredness of trees in a beautifully recounted sequence from 鈥淎ndrei Rublev.鈥� A boy digging a hole attempts to pull out a root, until he recognizes that it belongs to a flowering tree. 鈥淗e stops digging and gazes up at its pale flowers, as if admiring the work of a fellow artisan. We see the tree from his perspective; then we see him; and then the camera begins to float up, so that at last we see him and his fellow diggers from the tree鈥檚 perspective.鈥�
Russia鈥檚 inconsistency regarding the environment brings us into the present day, in which some of the most outspoken advocates for preserving the forests are also gung-ho nationalists keen on the brutal war on Ukraine, which itself is devastating to trees.
鈥淵et Ukraine鈥檚 forests are not only victims of war; they are also tools. Ukrainian environmentalists have noted that the forests are again functioning as zaseki, the forest fortresses once used in defense against steppe nomads like the Mongols.鈥�
Pinkham concludes with stories about Russian environmentalists whose back-to-nature adventures have inspired their fellow citizens to imagine opting out of Putin鈥檚 world and retreating into the wilderness: 鈥淚n the summer, the forest offered up plump crimson lingonberries, tiny, exquisite blueberries, tart cranberries, and luscious orange cloudberries.鈥�
Pinkham, ever a realist, sounds a somber note when she writes: 鈥淚n Anton Chekhov鈥檚 last play, a felled cherry orchard stands for the death of the old social order. The fate of the vast northern Eurasian forests will help determine the future climate of the whole world. ... The story of these forests is a testament to human cruelty, shortsightedness, and vain ambition. But it is also a tale of resilience and of the power of art.鈥� 鈻�