S. Sholl’s “Own” and “Alien” Russia

Abstract

In this paper, within the framework of the linguoculturological approach, the problem of interaction of cultures is studied. In this regard, the conceptual opposition of “own” – “alien” reflects the uniqueness of perception and interpretation of the real world, due to the features of a particular culture. The authors try to restore some fragments of the character of Russia based on the material of the publicistic prose of Suzanne Sholl, the Austrian author of “Russland mit und ohne Seele”. The relevance of the paper is due to the need to overcome obstacles in intercultural communication, to harmonize the positions of people and societies belonging to different cultures. The main methods of research are hermeneutic, cultural-historical, descriptive ones and a continuous sampling method as well. The attitude of the Austrian writer to Russian culture, interpersonal relations, and mental activity of a person is analyzed through the prism of the dichotomy “own” – “alien”. Particular attention is paid to intercultural gaps, which are unique to one nation. Russism reflecting the national cultural specifics of the people refers to this type of lacuna. The analysis of empirical material has shown that the author develops alien cultural elements that cause her various evaluation reactions: surprise, misunderstanding, respect, protest.