The Russian language as a mode of self-identity cultivation in the Russian émigré community

Abstract

The research is devoted to the problems of the language adaptation of the Russian emigre community (1917-1940) abroad. It is conducted in the framework of sociology of literature, therefore, sociological terminology and definitions are used. The Russian language is considered in the context of the notions «assimilation» and «denationalization» in a particular historical period. The novelty of the investigation consists in studying the Russian language as an object of special reflection for the Russian literary emigration of the «1-st wave» and its creative instrument. The literary emigre community tries to rethink the role of the native language, its functions and the peculiarities of it use in the emigre environment. The Russian language becomes the object of discussion in various literary genres: contemplations about the language could be met in fictional prose and poetry, in memoirs, and in the epistolary genre. Different positions of the older and the younger generations are analyzed corresponding to the use of the Russian language as a tool of social and cultural memory and a mode of keeping the national self-identity.