The Archetype of the Motherland in Modern Political Discourse (Aleksandr Prokhanov vs Dmitry Bykov)

Abstract

This article analyses the transformation of the archetype of the Motherland in opposed mytho-political systems and political discourses of contemporary Russia. It does so with reference to journalistic speeches and articles by Aleksandr Prokhanov and Dmitry Bykov (and satirical poems by the latter). The article demonstrates that the political opponents legitimise/delegitimise and sacralise/desacralise power by choosing a certain aspect of the archetype of the Motherland and reviving the mythology of hierogamy by projecting the archetype of the Father Tsar onto the current political leader. Another effective method of creating the image of Russia and interpreting events is the metaphor of family and gender, which both the writer and the poet use skillfully. The article aims to identify the aspects of the Motherland archetype and to understand the peculiarities characterising the usage of political metaphors for creating the image of the Motherland and their place in the mytho-political systems, relying on methods of mythopoetic and cognitive analysis. The author concludes that in the satirical poems and journalistic speeches of the opposition member Dmitry Bykov, the Motherland is a mother abandoning her children, an alcoholic mother, a mother devouring its children – an Antimother. Of all the gender and family metaphors related to the image of Russia, Bykov chooses antenatal and anticreative metaphors, emphasising, whenever possible, his own masculinity (on the principle of the masculinisation of his own self/his people). However, in the articles and speeches of the conservative Alexander Prokhanov from the early 2000s, the author observes a sacralisation of the Motherland, with the writer emphasising the positive and bright side of the holy image (Holy Russia). However, in his recent journalistic writings, there is a marked preference for the archetype of the Father Tsar, sacralisation of the authorities. and the worship of the state; he uses gender metaphors with a tendency for the masculinisation of one’s own people and the feminisation of others.