You, We and I: Addressivity in the Diaries of Ordinary Soviet Citizens

Irina Savkina

doi:10.25430/2281-6992/v8-149-176

You, We and I: Addressivity in the Diaries of Ordinary Soviet Citizens

Irina Savkina

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of addressivity (Bakhtin’s adresovannost’) in the diaries of Soviet citizens, based on an understanding of the diary as an uncertain genre balanced between privacy and publicity. On the one hand, diarists can address a You who is, paradoxically, both absent and present: a virtual addressee whose presence reveals the need for dialogue. On the other hand, the addressee can take the form of a We who is particularly meaningful for the diarist. The word We here refers to a community that the diarist considers significant, which can be termed recognition groups. The diarist enters into an internal dialogue with these recognition groups, imitating their discourse. The variety of such forms of addressivity is demonstrated through the analysis of three diaries of young people in the Soviet period: Nikolai Belousov (1913-2002, diary written in 1937-1939), Nina Lugovskaia (1918-1993, diary written in 1932-1939) and Maria Germanova (1922-1997, diary written in 1941-1942).

Keywords

diary; narrative; addressivity; narrative; Soviet Union; identity

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.25430/2281-6992/v8-149-176

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AvtobiografiЯ
Journal on Life Writing and the Representation of the Self in Russian Culture

Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Letterari
Via Elisabetta Vendramini 13
35137 PADOVA

ISSN: 2281-6992
Registrazione del Tribunale di Padova 23-04-2013, n. 2326 Registro della Stampa,
Variazione: Tribunale di Padova 27-10-2014, n. 3197 Registro della Stampa.