Occidentalism in Russian Travel Literature in the 18th Century: Example of Nikolaj Mihailovič Karamzin Summary The purpose of this research is to explore how the national and cultural identity of Russia was constructed in the eighteenth century through the vehicle of travel writing. At the heart of this research is a close analysis of the travels of the Russian author Nikolaj Karamzin to the Western Europe. Karamzin's Letters of a Russian Traveller is a travelogue in the form of memoir in epistolary arrangement based on his travels through the states of Germany, Switzerland, France and England in 1789-1790. The era and the author chosen are justified by the graveness that the eighteenth century has for the history of the Russian literature. An era of major transformations in all social and cultural aspects of the till-then known Russian lifestyle set the ground for a move towards modernity. By travelling to the Western Europe and displaying the values and rich greatness of some aspects of the cultural, political and social lives, Karamzin proposes a set of alternative national ideals. These ideals would assist the country and the nation to get closer to the standards of the Western traditions and subsequently closer to 'paradise' and the 'perfect' life. As a contextual backup for the analysis of Karamzin's...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:324093 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Stergiopoulou, Eleni |
| Contributors | Himl, Pavel, Power, Martina, Erdösi, Péter |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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