Travel notes Russia and Russians by Victor Tissot in the context of Russian-French relations at the turn of the 20th century

For the first time in the national literary studies, the article examines the book of travel notes Russia and Russians (1882) by the French writer Victor Tissot (1845-1917). Tissot’s travel notes on Russia are considered in the context of Russian-French relations at the turn of the 20th century, Russia’s growing interest in France on the eve of the conclusion of the Russian-French alliance. The article proves that the basic opposition constructing the image of Russia in Tissot’s book is the opposition of Russia and Ukraine. Tissot poetizes the image of Little Russia (which is understood not without the influence of ideas of Adam Miczkevich and Cyprien Robert) as the custodian of the original “Slavicness.” Despite the poetization of Ukraine, Tissot considered Moscow the true center of the Russian Empire, the city expressing the spirit of the country. The influence on Tissot’s travel notes about Russia by Theophile Gautier, impressionism, the traditions of Germaine de Stael is shown. Tissot sought to contrast the tradition of Gautier’s “aestheticized” discourse about about Russia with a more “realistic” image of Moscow and Russia by expanding the scope of the depicted, by describing not only the ceremonial, but also the shadow life of Moscow and Russia. The characteristic feature of Tissot’s poetics is the combination of aesthetics with macabre and gothic elements in the structure of the image of Russia. The article concludes that Tissot made a significant contribution to the destruction of the myth of Russia’s closedness, created by Custine and the Paris press, and to the generation of a generally positive image of Russia on the eve of the conclusion of the Russian-French alliance. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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