Evolution of image of Ukraine in imperial literature of the first quarter of the 19th century: regionalism, ethnography, politicization. Article 2. "Neobkhodimo snizoyti pod krovliu selianina'' (It is necessary to descend under a villager's roof)

The first generation of the Little Russians, engaged in the imperial activities by Catherine the Great, considered it important to note a special place of their homeland in history (literary and historiographical works by P. Simonovsky, V. Ruban, F. Tumansky, M. Antonovsky, G. Poletyka, V. Poletyka, A. Chepa, etc.). However, with all the historical value that experience up to a certain time was excluded from the mainstream of Russian historiography, which was moving to the creation of a universal empire-wide narrative. The descriptions of the native land made by G.I. Kalinovsky and V.G. Ruban with A.F. Shafonsky's natural history reviews were a kind of the alternative for historical research. Natural and geographical, economic and statistical, and ethnographic approach they used mostly fitted the context of the scientific and discursive development of the imperial borderlands that became systematic in the second part of the 18th century. The regional vision, which replaced the autonomy principle, made it possible to solve two fundamental problems of the historical and ethnographic discourse. Firstly, the Ukrainian history became part of the imperial history, and, secondly, the cultural differences of the Great and the Little Russians were either removed or reduced by their common origin that allowed considering Ukraine as the cradle of "Russianness". The statement of the "traditional scheme" of Russian history or the imperial "great narrative" in Karamzin's works was the basis for the rapprochement. Accepting Karamzin's scheme Little Russian historians of the new wave aimed to fill its gaps, to bring the events that took place in "their" territory into the imperial past. The model was the fundamental "History of Little Russia since its Annexation to the Russian State under Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich" by D.N. Bantysh-Kamensky, in which the main attention focused on the political events in the territory of Hetmanate and the actions of the central power were put in the forefront. It should be noted that at the beginning of the 19th century the Ukrainian historiography followed the class purposes. As a result, the Ukrainian history appeared primarily as the "history of the elite", and the common people were forced out to the periphery of the national discourse. Transformation of the Ukrainian historical and ethnographic discourse was possible due to the spread of Gerder's ideas which re-estimated the common people's role in the creation, preservation and historical translation of the national culture fixed in the language, folklore, and rituals. They reflected some constant features of the national character, independent of the political circumstances change. Adam Charnotsky (Z. Dolenga-Khodakovsky) subtly felt it; his concept was based on the idea of the Regional identity connected with the way of life of the lower classes, especially the peasantry. Little Russian ethnography and archeology, rapidly developing in this direction, also helped to bridge the gap with historiography, reinterpreting it in the context of the gentry elite history and of the people's one. It can be attributed to N.A. Tsertelev's "discovery" (made in the late 1810s) of historical songs and thoughts representing the people's version of the history. This was the first declaration of the mature imperial Ukrainophilism.

Keywords

Authors

References