Means of forming the imperial colonial narrative in the M. Karamzin’s story “Marfa-posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novogorod”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2023.2.1Keywords:
postcolonial studies, historical novel, colonial narrative, means of rhetoricAbstract
The relevance of the study is determined by the need for post-colonial studies of Russian literature, in particular the historical prose by Mykola Karamzin, who was one of the first creators of the imperial colonial narrative in fiction. His story “Marfa-Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novogorod” has not yet been the object of such a study, the problem of the founding of Russian colonial policy on the pages of this literary work has not been covered in literary studies. Consideration of this issue is the goal of this research. In the comparative aspect, the text of Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State” in its part devoted to the Novogorod events of the 15th century is included to the analysis. The methodology of postcolonial studies and narratological analysis was used to implement the research objectives.
As a result of the study, the following means of forming the imperial colonial narrative in the story were determined: the evaluative author’s words, speeches of historical characters-politicians, rhetorical techniques, and the method of depicting events and their participants. The position of the author-narrator is aimed at supporting the conquering policy of the Moscow principality, the annexation of Novogorod is justified by the “higher” goals of creating a powerful empire and is presented as an objective historical necessity. The imperial colonial discourse is vividly illustrated by the speech of the Moscow prince’s ambassador, which is a model of political demagogy, the use of manipulative technologies, and the intimidation of citizens.
The two-valued connotation of Marfa’s image contributes to establishing the author’s necessary accents. On the one hand there is heroization, a comparison with Cato, and on the other is a conscious simplification of the motives of Marfa’s struggle as a leader of the people’s resistance. Obviously, the writer creates a certain field of mistrust towards the heroine by emphasizing her manipulation of the feelings of the crowd as a good orator. Thanks to the motives of the useless sacrifice of Marfa and the people of Novgorod, prophecy, “the will of Providence”, Karamzin forces the reader to think about the inevitability of the fall of the Novgorod Republic.
The prospects of the research are the re-reading of Russian imperial literature in the context of post-colonial studies, further debunking the means of myth-making and colonial narrative in the corpus of its texts of different periods.
Downloads
References
Aheieva, V. (2021). Za lashtunkamy imperii: Esei pro ukrainsko-rosiiski kulturni vidnosyny [Behind the scenes of the empire: Essays on Ukrainian-Russian cultural relations].Vikhola.
Bilinskyi, V. (2009). Kraina Moksel, abo Moskoviia [The country of Moksel, or Muscovy]. Vydavnytstvo imeni Oleny Telihy.
Hundorova, T. (2014). Heneratsiinyi vyklyk i postkolonializm na skhodi Yevropy [Generational challenge and postcolonialism in Eastern Europe]. In T. Hundorova, A. Matusiak (Eds.), Postkolonializm. Heneratsii. Kultura (pp. 7–13). Laurus.
Karamzin, N. (1964). Izbrannye sochineniya v 2 t. T. 1 [Selected works in 2 v. Vol. 1]. Khudozhestvennaya literatura.
Karamzin, N. (1999). Istoriya gosudarstva rossiyskogo v 12 t. T. 6 [History of the Russian state in 12 v. Vol. 6]. Nauka.
Kozlova, N. (2012). Zhenshchina v politike: obraz Marfy Boretskoy v istoricheskoy povesti “Marfa-posadnitsa” N. M. Karamzina [A woman in politics: the image of Marfa Boretskaya in the historical novel “Marfa-Posadnitsa” by N. M. Karamzin]. Zhenshchina v rossijskom obshchestve, 3, 64–73.
Kudrevatykh, A. (2014). Obraz Marfy-posadnitsy kak politicheskogo lidera v povesti N. M. Karamzina “Marfa-posadnitsa, ili Pokorenie Novagoroda” [The image of Marfa-posadnitsa as a political leader in N. M. Karamzin’s story “Marfa-posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod”]. Politicheskaya lingvistika, 2, 229–233.
Lotman, Yu. (1997). Karamzin. Sotvorenie Karamzina [Karamzin. Creation of Karamzin]. Iskusstvo.
Mokryk, R. (2016). Ukraina v kolonialnomu dyskursi rosiiskoi literatury druhoi polovyny XIX stolittia [Ukraine in the colonial discourse of Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century]. Visnyk Lvivskoho universytetu. Seriia filosofski nauky, 18, 127–137.
Orlov, P. (1977). Russkiy sentimentalism [Russian sentimentalism]. Izd-vo MGU.
Pastur, G. (1992). Slovo u Karamzina: dve “Marfy-posadnitsy” [A word from Karamzin: two “Marfas-posadnitsy”]. Novyy krug, 2, 149–154.
Pavlyshyn, M. (2014). Postkolonializm yak metod i sklad dumky. Sposterezhennia shchodo ukrainskoho literaturoznavstva na storinkakh zhurnalu “Slovo i chas” u rokakh 1991–2011 [Postcolonialism as a method and composition of thought. Observations on Ukrainian literary studies on the pages of the magazine “Slovo i Chas” in the years 1991–2011]. In T. Hundorova, A. Matusiak (Eds.), Postkolonializm. Heneratsii. Kultura (pp. 73–83). Laurus.
Rukavichnikova, V. (2001). Istoriya drevnego Novgoroda v russkoy literature XVIII — pervoy treti XIX veka [The history of ancient Novgorod in Russian literature of the 18th — first third of the 19th century]. (Candidate’s abstract thesis).
Said, E. (2001). Oriientalizm [Orientalism]. Vydavnytstvo Solomii Pavlychko “Osnovy”.
Tompson, E. (2006). Trubadury imperii: Rosiiska literatura i kolonializm [Troubadours of the Empire: Russian literature and colonialism]. Vydavnytstvo Solomii Pavlychko “Osnovy”.
Veselovskiy, S. (1963). Issledovaniya po istorii oprichniny [Studies on the history of oprichnina]. Izdatelstvo AN SSSR.
Zhivov, V. (1996). Gosudarstvennyy mif v epokhu Prosveshcheniya i ego razrushenie v Rossii kontsa XVIII veka [State myth in the Enlightenment era and its destruction in Russia at the end of the 18th century]. In A. Koshelev (Ed.), Iz istorii russkoy kultury in 5 v. Vol. 4 (pp. 657–684). Yazyki russkoy kultury.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Iryna Zayarna
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
