Rosyjskie jubileusze jako zjawiska retoryczno-ironiczne
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Date
2012
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Wydawnictwo Naukowe WNPiD UAM
Title alternative
Russian Anniversaries as a Rhetorical-Ironic Phenomenon
Abstract
The objective of the paper is to present Russian anniversaries that commemorate impor-
tant historical events as phenomena with a dual, rhetorical and ironic character.
Rhetoric and irony are used with reference to individuals as well as imagined communi-
ties, such as nations. The memory of some historical events, or the lack of such memory, as
well as the manners of referring to these events or ignoring them, result in the transformation
of what community members think about themselves and their entanglement in common exis-
tence and fate. Therefore, changes of remembrance and oblivion, recollection or forgetting
can integrate or disintegrate, intensifying the pride or shame of one’s national identity, which
eventually results in satisfaction or frustration, and sometimes in a sense of superiority or infe-
riority. Pride and satisfaction are produced by rhetoric, while shame and frustration – by
irony.
Sometimes rhetorical-ironic playing with the past assumes particular significance, becom-
ing an exceptionally important factor in social and political life. This phenomenon strongly
intensified in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century, becoming a veritable ‘anniver-
sary-mania’, and in 2012, which President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, de-
clared the Year of Russian History.
The periods analyzed in the paper are around one hundred years apart. Russian society has
totally changed over this period, mainly as a result of the revolution, two world wars and sev-
eral decades of communist rule. In 1990, the Russian Federation was established, a state with
an authoritarian-democratic hybrid of a political system. Despite these transformations, mod-
ern Russians repeat numerous set behavioral patterns from the beginning of the 20th century.
These patterns are used by the advocates of affirmative as well as critical approaches to the
history of Russia and the current social and political situation in the country.
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Keywords
jubileusze, historia Rosji, charakter retoryczno-ironiczny
Citation
Przegląd Politologiczny, nr 3/2012, ss.125-134