Synopses & Reviews
This is the first of two companion volumes which examine language use and language attitudes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia, focusing on the transitional period from the Enlightenment to the age of Pushkin. Set against the background of the rapid transformation of Russia into a major European power, the two volumes of French and Russian in Imperial Russia consider the functions of multilingualism and the use of French as a prestige language among the elite, as well as the benefits of Franco-Russian bilingualism and the anxieties to which it gave rise.
This first volume provides insight into the development of the practice of speaking and writing French at the Russian court and among the Russian nobility from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. It examines linguistic practice, the use of French in Russia in various spheres, domains and genres, as well as the interplay between the two languages. Including examples of French lexical influence on Russian, this volume takes a sociolinguistic interest in language choice, code-switching and the degree to which the language community being observed was bilingual or diglossic.
A comprehensive and original contribution to the multidisciplinary study of language, the two volumes address, from a historical viewpoint, subjects of relevance to sociolinguists (especially bilingualism and multilingualism), social and cultural historians (social and national identity, linguistic and cultural borrowing), Slavists (the relationship of Russian and western culture) and students of the European Enlightenment, Neo-Classicism, Romanticism and cultural nationalism.
About the Author
Derek Offord is Research Professor in Russian at the University of Bristol.
Lara Ryazanova-Clarke is a Senior Lecturer in Russian and Academic Director of the Princess Dashkova Russian Centre at the University of Edinburgh.
Vladislav Rjeoutski is a Research Fellow at the Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau.
Gesine Argent is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Bristol.
Table of Contents
Note on dates, transliteration and other editorial practices
Abbreviations
Dates of reigns
Introduction, Derek Offord, Gesine Argent, Lara Ryazanova-Clarke And Vladislav Rjéoutski
1: The Pan-European Justification Of A Multilingual Russian Society In The Late Eighteenth Century, Stephen Bruce
2: Princess Dashkova And The Politics Of Language In Eighteenth-Century Russia, Michelle Lamarche Marrese
3: Plating 'Russian Gold' With 'French Copper': Aleksandr Sumarokov And Eighteenth-Century Franco-Russian Translation, Svetlana Skomorokhova
4: Francophone Culture In Russia Seen Through The Russian And French Periodical Press, Carole Chapin
5: Linguistic Gallophobia In Russian Comedy, Derek Offord
6: The Linguistic Debate Between Karamzin And Shishkov: Evaluating Russian-French Language Contact, Gesine Argent
7: Language And Conservative Politics In Alexandrine Russia, G. M. Hamburg
8: Seduction, Subterfuge, Subversion: Ivan Krylov's Rewriting Of Molière, Brian Kim
9: The French Language Of Fashion In Early Nineteenth-Century Russia, Olga Vassilieva-Codognet
10: Otechestvo, Otchizna, Rodina: Russian 'Translations' Of Patrie In The Napoleonic Period, Sara Dickinson
11: Treatment Of Francophonie In Pushkin's Prose Fiction, Derek Offord
12: Love À La Mode: Russian Words And French Sources, Victor Zhivov
Conclusion, Gesine Argent and Derek Offord
Notes on contributors
Index