The image of New York in Russian travelogues of the 1860s

The article deals with representation of American urban spaces in the Russian travelogues "Hudson River" and "Montreal" by D. Romanov, as well as "Corvette 'Varyag' " by G.F. Armfelt, written in the 1860s. The central space in these texts is a representation of New York City. The common elements are also the factual manner of narration and a number of motifs that characterize the American urban space: gigantism, fullness of movement and people, money, commercialism, industrialism, technical civilization, service, utilitarian rationality, combined with the motif of luck of culture and manners of Yankees, which, in turn, actualizes the motifs of uninterest/boredom/mediocrity, manifested, when describing provincial urban topoi and, in general, cultural loci of museums, theaters, etc. In addition, Russian authors often use methods of comparison, defamiliarization and travesty when fixing Americanness as more Foreign (the embodiment of the New World space) relative to less Foreign (Western Europeanness) and their Own (Russianness), which are spatial variants of the Old World territory. At the same time, there is a number of differences in Romanov's and Armfelt's depiction of American cities. The first one emphasizes the representation of the "nonglamorous" part of New York, embodied in the harbor locus, which is marked by motifs of unattractiveness, commercialism, utilitarianism, and mud. The harbor image also combines the values of mediation and at the same time the boundary between the inner (urban) and outer spaces. Broadway in this context acts as a mediation place, connecting the business loci of the City and Wall Street with the harbor within the topos. Armfelt, on the contrary, describes more the "ceremonial" New York, fixed in the central loci of Broadway, avenues and "named" streets, marked by features of attractiveness, luxury, wealth and partially commerce (in shops description). However, the New York spatiality in "Corvette 'Varyag' " is also ambivalent and contrasting, which is embodied in local manifestations of the motifs of attractiveness and unattractiveness, wealth and poverty in the whole area of the city. At the same time, Armfelt's descriptions of charitable institutions are characterized by motifs of cleanliness and orderliness, which marks New York by the denial of beggarism. In Romanov's text, the motifs of novelty and frontier are more vividly manifested in the depiction of New York neighborhoods. In general, town space of the USA, unlike New York, is poorly described by both authors. Romanov more often emphasizes an idyllic demi-naturalness of these places. Armfelt's representation of the American urban province is more critical, with more entropic, negative features, including those related to the war space in the American North. On the other hand, Romanov, albeit weakly, depicts the American space of historical memory. In Armfelt's text it is virtually absent. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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