The image of Russia in English literature on the Russian civil war

Abstract

   Based on the novels about the Russian Civil War (1918–1922), the paper discusses stereotypical perceptions of Russia in the public consciousness of Great Britain. The paper recalls “the myth of Russia”, which has gained its content over the centuries: a cold space of a despotic state inhabited by the slave population. This myth was destroyed in the first decades of the twentieth century when the British displayed a deep interest in Russian culture and a positive attitude towards it, called “Rusomania”. The study claims this position is reflected in the first works about the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War, which show these events as an explosion that destroyed the real Russia. However, a new transformation of stereotypes is taking place at the beginning of the 21st century. Our article analyzes the image of post-revolutionary Russia in James Meek’s novel “The People’s Act of Love” (2006). Its events take place in Siberia in 1919 in the village of Yazyk, the habitat of the skoptsy (castrates) sect. Here, a clash arises between the Czechs and the Bolsheviks. The author offers several “Russian” narratives, associated both with the idea of love and with the approval of violence in the name of love. Thus, the Russia image is made up of an endless severe Siberian frost and snow, the worldview of castrates as the foundation of Russian mentality, bloodshed and innocent victims. The conclusion is made that James Meek clearly returns to the myth of Russia that had been created in Great Britain by the 16^th century and significantly enhances its negative components, which seem to have been overcome in the twentieth century, rejecting the idea of the true spirituality of the country.