The image of the British among Russian intellectuals: representations during the First World War

Since intellectuals produce meanings and values, their role in the production of ethno-cultural images of other nations is significant. Using modern imagological approaches, the author considers the images of the British in the minds of different categories of Russian intellectuals during the First World War. Based on the concept of T. van Dyck, basic discourses as the framework for the representation of British images in the minds of Russian intellectuals are defined. In decoding the image of the Other, the author concentrates on sources of a verbal nature and analyzes the axiological context of the British image in Russian public opinion. The thesis is substantiated that, during the First World War, the image of the English was multilayered. The category "imagotheme" is used to consider the different layers of the analyzed image. J.-M. Moura suggested the term, meaning the motive/ the refrain passing from one text to another. The author concludes that, from the outbreak of the First World War to the end of 1916, the ways of the representation of different types of the British image in Russian sociocultural life as the key imagothemes were: historically determined otherness of the British and lack of understanding of the Russians from their side (weak neutral-skeptical discourse); concealed hostility to England and British values, suspiciousness towards the British (latent discourse of Anglophobia); and praising of a strong and valiant ally (dominant discourse of Anglophilia). The configuration of the images of the British was radically transformed because of the events of 1917.