Freedom and democracy as understood by Andrei Siniavski in the light of a linguistic and historical-cultural analysis of the essay La civilisation soviétique
Beata Kędzia-Klebeko
University of SzczecinSwietłana Niewzorowa
University of SzczecinAbstract
The year 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Andrei Siniavski, a Russian writer known to the Western world for his work in defence of the public. Siniavski, who died in France in 1997, is known as the author of Soviet Civilization, published in France in 1988. The aim of this article is therefore to analyse the process of the conceptualisation of freedom and democratic ideas undertaken by Siniavski in the essay Soviet Civilisation, using the writer’s own linguistic means. For this purpose, we will proceed to a definitional analysis of the lexemes naming the concept of freedom, an etymological analysis to trace the history of the concept and its subsequent semantic evolution, and a contextual analysis.
Keywords:
writing and freedom, Russian dissidence, conceptualisation of freedom and democraticReferences
Berlin, I. (1969), Four Essays On Liberty. Oxford. Google Scholar
Colliot-Thélène, C. (2009), Pour une politique des droits subjectifs: la lutte pour les droits comme lutte politique, [in:] L’Année sociologique 59 (1), 231-258. Google Scholar
Dal’, V. I. (1999 | IV), Tolkovyy slovar’ zhivogo velikorusskogo yazyka. Moscow. Google Scholar
Fasmer, M. (2022), Etimologicheskiy onlayn-slovar’ russkogo yazyka. [Этимологический онлайн- словарь русского языка Макса Фасмера]. URL: https://lexicography.online/etymology/vasmer/ (accessed: 18.06.2022). Google Scholar
Forgues, P. | Forgues, N. (1967), L’affaire Siniavski-Daniel, trad. Notes et dossier établis par Nadine et Pierre Forgues. Paris. Google Scholar
Heller, M. | Niekricz, A. (1987), Utopia in power. A history of the Soviet Union, 2, part IV. London. Google Scholar
Larbaud, V. (1997), Sous l’invocation de saint Jérôme. Paris. Google Scholar
Nivat, G. (2023), Siniavski Andreï (1925-1997). URL: https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/ andrei-siniavski/ (accessed: 10.01.2023). Google Scholar
Podoprigora, S. | Podoprigora, A. (2013), Filosofskiy slovar’. Rostov na Donu. Google Scholar
Rancière, J. (2012), Antydemokratyczne demokracje, [in:] Agamben, G. | Badiou, A. et al. (red.), Co dalej z demokracją. Warszawa, Google Scholar
Siniavski, A. (1981), Qu’es-ce que Syntaxis, [in:] Siniavski, A., Syntaxis. Paris. Google Scholar
Siniavski, A. (1988), La civilisation soviétique. Paris, 9. Google Scholar
Siniavski, A. (1997), The Russian Intelligentsia. New York. Google Scholar
Siniavski, A. (2002), Osnovy sovetskoy tsivilizatsii. Moscow. Google Scholar
Taylor, Ch. (1991), What’s Wrong with Negative Liberty, [in:] Ryan, A. (ed.), The Idea of Freedom: Essays in Honor of Isaiah Berlin. Oxford, 211-229. Google Scholar
Tikos, L. | Peppard, M. (1973), Plaidoyer pour la liberté de l’imagination. Paris. Google Scholar
Vorkachev, S. G. (2001), Lingvokul’turologiya, yazykovaya lichnost’, kontsept: stanovleniye antro¬potsentricheskoy paradigmy v yazykoznanii, [in:] Filologicheskiye nauki 1, 64-72. Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (1999), Semanticheskiye universalii i opisaniye yazykov. Moscow. Google Scholar
University of Szczecin
University of Szczecin
