Ad Urbanitatem informare : la langue et l’éducation dans les comédies de Catherine II (exemple de O temps !).

Abstract

Catherine the Great’s first comedy Oh These Times ! (1772) provides an inventory of the key themes and literary devices that feature in the Empress’s early plays. By way of literary, dramatic and semiotic analyses of the play, this article demonstrates the ways in which Catherine II structured her dramatic works in order to showcase her political goals. The antithesis between Moscow and St Petersburg, which was central to the Empress’s political vision, underpins the action in Oh These Times ! It is above all the question of education that opposes the two towns, which were worlds apart in terms of way of life and values. Khristina, the central protagonist, is faced with a choice. She must choose a language of a social communication. Reading in Russian is represented as the way to progress in this comedy. In the light of the increased number of publications of Russian-language belle-lettres during the reign of Catherine the Great, Oh These Times ! is revealing as to the Empress’s cultural projects : it was through reading that the hearts and minds of the new generation of Russian subjects were to be educated.