Without the Banya We Would Perish: A History of the Russian Bathhouse

In this dense monograph, scholar Pollock (Stalin and the Soviet Science Wars) digs in to the complexities of the Russian bathhouse, offering a survey of the sacred and profane rituals associated with the “banya.” From rural wooden steam huts to the concrete urban bath complexes of the Communist era, he calls the Russian bathhouse “a liminal space, between life and death, [involving] mixed-sex coupling, same-sex bonding, official ablutions and magic.” Bizarre and barbaric in Western eyes—the Apostle Andrew used the phrase “voluntary torture”—the customs associated with the bathhouse, such as being swatted with branches, reflected Russia’s uneasy transition to Christianity in the 11th century and its place at a cultural crossroads where the Turkish hamman, the Jewish mikvah, and other traditions mingled, and where communal as well as corporeal norms were set in steam, aided by birch branches, vodka, pickles, linen towels, and other essential elements. Pollock mines Russian and Soviet art, literature, and film for a huge number of banya references, to bolster his claim that the banya is central to Russian identity and a place of social experimentation. In accessible but detail-heavy prose, he considers the banya from numerous angles, including as potential hot spots for disease transmission. Pollock’s history of the Russian bath is fine but slow reading for specialists and the curious alike. Photos. (Sept.)