title: Which is the correct way to encode escape characters in Python 2 without killing Unicode?
body: <p>I think I'm going crazy with Python's unicode strings. I'm trying to encode escape characters in a Unicode string <strong>without</strong> escaping actual Unicode characters. I'm getting this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>In [14]: a = u"Example\n"
  
  In [15]: b = u"Пример\n"
  
  In [16]: print a
  Example
  
  
  In [17]: print b
  Пример
  
  
  In [18]: print a.encode('unicode_escape')
  Example\n
  
  In [19]: print b.encode('unicode_escape')
  \u041f\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0435\u0440\n
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>while I desperately need (English example works as I want, obviously):</p>
  
  <pre><code>In [18]: print a.encode('unicode_escape')
  Example\n
  
  In [19]: print b.encode('unicode_escape')
  Пример\n
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What should I do, short of moving to Python 3?</p>
  
  <p>PS: As pointed out below, I'm actually seeking to escape control characters. Whether I need more than just those will have to be seen.</p>