French and Russian in Imperial Russia: Language Attitudes and Identity

this is the second of the companion volumes which examine language use and language attitudes in eiteenth-, and nineteenth-century Russia, focusing on the period from the Enlightenment to the age of Pushkin. Set against the background of the rapid transformation of Russia into a major European Power, the two volumes of French and Russian in Imperial Russia consider the function of multilingualism and the use of French as a prestige language among the elite, as well as benefits of Franco-Russian bilingualism ad the anxieties to which it gave rise. The second volume, Language Attitudes and Identity, expores the impact of French on Russian language attitudes, especially among the Russian literary community. It examines the ways in which perceptions of Russian francophonie helped to shape social, political and cultural identity as Russia began to seek space of its own in the European cultural landscape. In the process, it investigates approaches to translation, journalistic debate about language, literary representation of devotees of French social practice and fashion, and manifestation of lingusitic purism and patriotism.