Olga Polyakova

The author analyses the image of Russia in the artistic consciousness of France on the materials of the XIX century literature. The problem of French-Russian cultural dialogue is analyzed in theoretical plane, with a special emphasis on the notion of national concept sphere elaborated by Z. I. Kirnoze and her followers. Then a mythological dimension of the image of Russia, represented in French literature, is reviewed on the basis of V. V. Orekhov’s works. The subject of the study also includes cultural models of representation of the image of Russia in XIX century France.

The author analyses the main works of the outstanding Russian scholar N. P. Mikhalskaya, devoted to the reception of Russia in English literature. Prof. Mikhalskaya applies historical method to British-Russian literary relations and defines the major periods in shaping and development of the hetero-image. The paper is focused on the structure of the image of Russia, its dependence on socio-cultural, political conditions, mechanisms of literary relations, etc.

The author analyses the emergence and development of imagology in Russia as a branch of comparative literary studies investigating national images, specific features of reception of the other/alien in the system of culture. Special attention is paid to the research conducted in the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The leader of these studies was Prof. V. B. Zemskov, whose conception of imagology is considered in the paper, including the main goals of this discipline, its inventory, the notions of stereotype, image, and also the mechanisms and historical aspects of imagological reception and representation.