XI International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia
10th-14th July 2023
Anastasiia Lystsova (Princeton University, NJ, USA), “The Languages of Diplomatic Correspondence in the Eighteenth Century”
My presentation examines the languages used in the correspondence between several diplomats in 1742-62, specifically P.G. Chernyshev, M.L. Vorontsov, and A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin. By “languages,” I understand not only the choice between the actual languages like Russian or French, but also the meta-language of the letters that underscores the complexity and contradictory nature of the correspondents’ relationships. Even though they belonged to the court hierarchy, they addressed each other as friends, the peculiarity which reveals the language of patronage and the symbolic meaning of gift-giving. In this presentation, I argue that in this period, the lines between public and private, professional and personal were blurred, and the informal rules of verbal and symbolic communication defined the relationships between people rather than an official hierarchy.
