In their language it was called “night operation”: the reflection on language in the memories of N. Mandelshtam

Abstract

The memoirs of N. Mandelstam are well known to a wide range of readers, but the attention of researchers to these texts is often due to the interest directed at the personality and work of O. Mandelstam. Literary critics actively use “Memoirs”, “The Second Book”, and “About Akhmatova”, but linguistic studies practically do not touch on her extensive memoirs. The article considers aspects of the author’s reflection on the language in the memoirs of N. Mandelstam. Particular attention is paid to the explication and analysis of the key oppositions “we – they”, “ours – theirs”, implemented by various linguistic means, as well as the reflexive activity of the memoirist, which is addressed, among other things, to the characteristic features of the language of different social groups. The genre affiliation of the analyzed material allows us to touch upon the problem of self-identification and self-presentation, which are ambiguously manifested in the text due to the addressing specifics of N. Mandelstam’s ego-document. The article also analyzes a number of characteristic features inherent in the so-called “female” writing.