The concept “people” in A. S. Shishkov’s manifestoes in the discourse of the Patriotic War of 1812

Abstract

The Patriotic War of 1812 is an event that influenced the formation of the Russian na­tional consciousness. At that time, imperial and class identities coexisted. With the de fac­to ban on discussing the idea of a civil nation, Russian intellectuals focused on the cultural and linguistic components of nationalism. The aim of this study was to identify the content of the concept of ‘people’ in the manifestoes by Shishkov. These texts expressed the official posi­tion of the supreme authority on national unity. The method of discourse analysis employed by the author, made it possible to place Shishkov’s texts in a broader historical context, trac­ing their origins in the discussions on the language of the beginning of the 19th century and determining their impact on the subsequent process of nation-building. Being a supporter of the creation of the Russian literary language on the basis of the folk and Church-Slavonic Russian, Shishkov embodied these views in the texts of manifestoes during the War of 1812. Although there is a certain contradiction between the ideas of class society and national unity, the style and images used made it possible for representatives of all classes to perceive the texts. Later on, “people” as a synonym of “nation” was widely used in the formation of the myth of war as a national affair, forming the foundation for the formation of the Russian na­tional consciousness.

Keywords

• a.s. shishkov
• nation-building
• patriotic war of 1812
• russian literary language