“Literatura mirovoj revoljucii”, 5-6, 1931 - [S010]
Communicative Intention: Creation of the image of the Other as the "Enemy"
Utterance Aim: To arouse suspicion in the reader and cause him to distance himself from the concept described
Concrete Linguistic Means/Tool: Use of ironic inverted commas
Journal Title: "Literatura mirovoj revoljucii"
Journal Number: 5-6
Contexts & Examples: (10) Среди откликов на анкету "Nouvelles littéraires", как характерный образец такой фразеологии заслуживает особого внимания ответ «крестьянского поэта» Франсис Андре, одного из приверженцев «крестьянской литературы» в том смысле, который даёт этому термину «теоретик» всей группы, г-н Пуляйль: […]
Edited by Svetlana Slavkova
The use of ironic inverted commas in the designations indicates that the author does not support these phenomena, or, at least, does not recognise them as acceptable. It is implicitly suggested to the reader that the poet Francis André, despite being from a peasant background, is alienated from the interests of the disadvantaged social classes and cannot be called a “krest’janskij poet” [peasant poet]. Moreover, the very notion of a ‘krest’janskaja literatura‘ [peasant literature] – understood as a premise for influencing the peasantry in order to bring it closer to the proletariat – is itself presented as misunderstood by the writer Henry Poulaille. This rhetorical device, i.e. the recurrent and systematic use of ironic inverted commas, testifies, among other things, to a certain aggressive charge: doubt is consciously and intentionally instilled in the reader, with the aim of gaining his consent and making him join US and become ONE of US. A certain hastiness in composition also emerges, with a heated tone and a polemical intent aimed at forcefully rejecting the concepts and characteristics under scrutiny, as well as dissent towards the positions held by exponents of Western European art and culture.