In this chapter I shall examine a second case of identification and desire. In a cultural love-affair located largely in the imaginary, Russia constituted a masculine Other, a desired and exotic brother for Spain, while its revolution provided the possibility of a realistic engagement with a different culture. But there was a further gendered dimension. The imaginary that concerned England and Englishness had had its primary focus on the concept of the gentleman, the amateur or the eccentric (with only brief excursions into feminine aspects of the cultural imaginary). The imaginary that concerns Russia is one that also involves the feminine, and specifically we find the figuring of Russia as the exotic woman. In addition to this, in travel writings on Russia, despite periodic attempts to figure women as individuals, non-essentialized and newly formulated in their post-revolutionary situation, we find that there is also a myth of woman as flesh and grounded-ness, a creature that is the repository of positive experience.

The relationship of Spain to Russia in this context can be considered as the attraction of exotic br/Others. There are two facets to the discussion: there is a desire on the part of Spain desire for identification (with Russia) that involves becoming a particular type of subject, and there is desire which is for an object. There are a further two areas of interest, in that Russia is variously regarded by Spain as an object of political interest or as one of artistic significance. In both cases, a structure of desire, in the two forms of identification and possession, can be perceived.