Fiction as a Source of Precedents in Russian Parliamentary Discourse of the Early 20^th Century (on Material of Speeches of Nationalist Deputies)

Abstract

The use of fiction texts in the Russian parliamentary discourse of the early 20th century is considered. The use of literature intertext in the speeches of the deputies-nationalists as the most active speakers in the State Duma (N. E. Markov, V. M. Purishkevich, G. G. Zamkovsky, S. V. Levashov) is analyzed. As a result of the analysis it is established that the deputies of this political group (right-wing faction) actively used in their speeches references to publicistic and artistic works of a number of Russian writers: A. S. Pushkin, I. A. Krylov, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, G. I. Uspensky. Particular attention is paid to the study of the functions of literary and artistic intertext in the parliamentary speech. Three main functions of inclusion of quotations and allusions from literature in the speeches of the nationalist deputies are highlighted and described in the rhetorical and pragmatic aspect: appeal to the authority of the Russian writer (first of all, F. M. Dostoevsky), demonstration of the ironic and sarcastic attitude of the speaker to opponents, silence and euphemization. The latter two functions were the basis for speech aggression, and the intertext was used by the speaker as a means of reducing the authority of the enemy by placing it in the context of the work (comparison with the character or with the situation of the plot).

Keywords

• rhetoric
• intertext
• parliamentary speech
• political discourse
• state duma
• pragmatics of speech
• argumentation of speech