Authors’ names:
- Svetlana N. Averkina, Anton Yu. Kurmelev, Аlexandra A. Loginova – Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Abstract:
In modern Russian and foreign literary studies, the study of travelogues and travel literature has become a priority area. The present study examines the peculiarities of the formation of myths associated with the topoi of not only geographical, but also of considerable cultural signifi-cance. Leaning on the methodology of comparative studies and receptive aesthetics, the authors utilize cultural-historical and psychological methods as well as the method of close reading. The article is based on the idea that landscapes and names of settlements participate in the formation of imagological models and influence the perception of the image of a country in the minds of researchers, travelers, and ordinary people. This problem has been of interest to writers, historians and philosophers since Antiquity and has not lost its relevance, because myths have a powerful generative potential and continue to be formed, added to, supplemented, changed, and implemented in new semantic contexts. Therefore, the study of myths – for example, the myth of Siberia – cannot be completed or finished at any specific moment, since myths cannot be fixed in any constant, immutable version. The novelty of this type of research is connected, on the one hand, with the constant influx of new information, materials, scientific discoveries, fiction, and journalism related to the problem at hand, and, on the other hand, with the continuing search for new approaches to the issue, which is one of the emphases of the present study. Another novel aspect of the present research is a comparison of two texts relating to the same time period: the essay La Russie en 1839, written by de Custine in the midst of Nicholas I’s very conservative and restrictive reign, and The Tobolsk Sketches by the famous German writer and playwright August von Kotzebue. From the literary point of view, de Custine’s text is much richer than that of Kotzebue, but it has a rather narrow semantic orientation: the reader is presented with a set of horrifying facts confirming the backwardness, cruelty, and hopelessness of life in Russia. Custine criticizes absolutely everything: he does not like the roads, the order of things, or the general lack of amenities. Kotzebue’s notes, on the contrary, cannot be called stylistically rich, but from them the European reader receives much more in-formation about the “alien,” “fabulous,” and “attractive” Siberia, discovering Russia in a new way. In a sense, Kotzebue lays the foundation for the future popularity of Russia for daring travelers such as Adelbert von Chamisso, Alexandre Dumas, and many others. Leaning on fundamental and contemporary theoretical literature on semiotics, imagology, anthropology and literary studies, the authors posit that myth is a product of “collective, tangible, picked up by several generations cultural memory” and apply M. Yampolsky’s thesis about the metaphysics of landscape to the study of travelogues. At the same time, the narrative of travel is a form of social practice that allows one to create “geographical meta-images”: from the pre-image created under the influence of authoritative sources and stereotypes, the traveler comes to the perception of living images that conflict with the former. As a result of this collision, there emerges a new construct that invades the cultural space and affects the subsequent reception of phenomena. Through the combination of geographical, political, and social representations with psychological and somatic elements, a complex morphology of the image is born. It seems that using the example of two travelogues, similar in type, but opposite in reasoning, one can observe how the ambivalent myth of Siberia penetrates into culture, experiencing constant development. Today, the reception of this phenomenon continues with renewed vigor, especially in terms of the increasingly complex geopolitical situation and disputes between several neighboring countries about whether it’s legitimate that only one country should use the wealth of Siberia. The study has not only theoretical but also practical significance. Its results can be used in university courses in the history of European literature and theory and practice of intercultural communication.
| Section | CROSS-CULTURAL ASPECTS OF LITERARY DISCOURSE |
| DOI: | 10.47388/2072-3490/lunn2023-64-4-270-281 |
| Downloads | 22 |
| Key words | the Siberian myth; comparative studies; landscape metaphors; travelogue; meta-image |
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