RUSSIAN SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS SEEN BY FRENCH WITNESSES OF THE CRIMEAN WAR (1853–1856) IN THE NOVEL BY L. BOUSSENARD “LE ZOUAVE DE MALAKOFF”: A LINGUOIMAGOLOGICAL ASPECT

Abstract

The paper focuses on the means of verbalization of linguoimagology. The author analysed the linguistic characteristics of the interpretation of the perception of Russians by French soldiers during the Russo-Turkish war (1853–1856). L. Boussenard’s novel “Le Zouave de Malakoff” (in 5 parts), which describes the war, was specifically selected for analysis. The author pays a lot of attention to the description of the battles of the Russians. L. Boussenard assesses the events of the Crimean War, and the reader has the opportunity to consider them with the eyes of the Frenchman, as if involved in the campaign. This work fully covered the events of the mid-19th century that took place on the Crimean peninsula where the Russian, Turkish, Sardinian, French, and British armies were fighting. 
 On analyzing different aspects of discourse, it should be noted that from the linguoimagological standpoint the French vision of the Russians is presented in an ambivalent way. The author uses features with a positive connotation, as well as features containing negative attitudes in their semantics. The author conveyed different types of evaluations in his work. The writer used alliteration, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, occasional phrases, and repetitions. In general, the description of attacks and the retreat of armies is given in the present tense. With this stylistic feature, the author makes the reader the witness, thus more colourfully revealing both the details of the battles and the nature of the parties involved.