The national text of Hannah Cowley’s drama “A Day in Turkey; or the Russian slaves”
https://doi.org/10.26907/2782-4756-2024-76-2-176-180
Abstract
The paper analyzes the specificity of imagological representation in the play “A Day in Turkey; or The Russian Slaves” (1791) by Hannah Cowley, a prominent English 18 th -century playwright. We consider the literary and historical-political contexts and pretexts of Cowley’s drama in connection with the most outstanding geopolitical events of the last decade of the 18 th century (the Great French Revolution, the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-1791) and outline a number of plays, which belong to the “oriental text” of English drama. A peculiar feature of the play “A Day in Turkey; or The Russian Slaves” is the realization of imagological heteroglossia as well as the interaction of particular national representations in the framework of political and feminist discourse. This interaction is analyzed based on the national images of Russia, Turkey and France, regarding the genre strategies of the play. Special attention is paid to “the Russian text” of the drama marked by a positive evaluation of the national hetero-image and the absence of imagological aggressiveness, which is quite natural in the case of rival countries. Russian personages carry the main ideological load of the play, embodying the author’s humanistic message.
About the Author
O. Polyakov
Vyatka State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Polyakov Oleg Yurievich, Doctor of Philology, Professor
36 Moskovskaya Str., Kirov, 610000
References
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Review
For citations:
Polyakov O. The national text of Hannah Cowley’s drama “A Day in Turkey; or the Russian slaves”. Philology and Culture. 2024;(2):176-180. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26907/2782-4756-2024-76-2-176-180
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