The representations of Siberia in the songs of convicts in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries

This article dwells upon the revealing of Siberian images in the songs of hard laborers at the end of 19 th and the beginning of 20 th century. Its basis are the lyrics which the Russian people of keen intellect collected in the second half of 19 th and the early 20 th century (the convict F. M. Dostoevsky, oblastnik N. M. Yadrintsev, the writer S.V. Maksimov, the reporter V. M. Doroshevich and the composer V. N. Garteveld).I suppose that the image of Siberia in the songs of hard laborers depended on functions which these very songs fulfilled: 1) the social one promoting the adaptation to new life, inclusion in standards and values of convicts' subculture; 2) communicative; 3) integrative, and so on. According to the songs Siberia was the place where people served sentence for true or colorable crimes. Also it had the role of logical stage of a culprit's biography or a terrible life end of a person wrongfully convicted. In people's mind, Siberia was the place of punishment for grave crimes against person, property or state. More over, the ruling ideology backed it up and allowed to copy such songs by means of publishing. The distinguishing feature of convicts' songs was the fact that the central character denied his implication in a crime, and exile to Siberia was considered to be absolute injustice admitting revenge as a consequence. While Siberia was described as the hell, the space to the west of Uralsky Stone was perceived as the lost paradise, but exile was banishment from the paradise. The songs exaggerate physical and soul suffering of inmates in Siberia-prison; it's depicted not only as «far and alien country» with «strange nature and people», but as the place with «remote taiga», eternal winter where there is «neither sun nor dawn». Apart from social and educational function of songs we can see compensative one evoking pity for a person's arduous life.But not all songs described the European Russia in terms of nostalgia. The need for «new» identification pertaining to acquiring the status of a hard laborer and the necessity of integration with the community of alike people led to perceiving Siberia as a new home instead of the rejected European Russia. The communicative and integrative functions of convicts' songs can be traced in a great number of songs about Yermak and were connected with self-identification of hard laborers as children of high-minded robber - the conqueror of Siberia. The convicts' subculture necessity of finding own roots, heroes and evildoers was embodied exactly in songs. On the one hand songs showed Siberia as the place of grief and captivity, on the other hand it was the place where representatives of this community met. Also it was its spatial code with relevant identification symbolism.