The Concept of “Russophobia” among Russian Authors of the 19–20th Centuries

Abstract

In the existing literature on anti-Russian phobias, insufficient attention is paid to the linguistic and conceptual aspects of the phenomenon under study. Such an unreflected approach leads to the confusion of heterogeneous phenomena. The article discusses the term “Russophobia” central to this topic — the meaning of it among different authors and in different eras of Russian history, as well as the context in which this term was used. The study was conducted on the material of journalism (including texts by Russian authors created in other languages) and the most significant epistolary texts. Particular attention is paid to the concept of “internal Russophobia” formulated in the middle of the 19th century by F.F. Vigel and F.I. Tyutchev. For Tyutchev, the closest target was I.S. Turgenev, an iconic figure of Westernizing liberalism. Drawn by Tyutchev (with the active participation of Dostoevsky), the image of a Russian “very honourable” man who hates his motherland “by instinct”, upon closer examination, turns out to be a phantom created for polemical purposes. In the Soviet press, “Russophobia” and related words for a long time belonged mainly to the historical past. From the second half of the 1930s to the mid-1970s, they practically fell out of the language of journalism. A sharp surge of interest in the concept of “Russophobia” dates back to the late 1980s. However, during this period, the image of the USSR and Russia in Western public opinion changed noticeably for the better.