Russia and Russians in The age of bronze and Don Juan by George Byron: metamorphosis of stereotype

Some fundamental peculiarities of George Byron‘s artistic work with Russian topics and Russian images are under analysis in this essay. The author analyses Russian Cantos of the famous novel in verse Don Juan and Russian aspects of the lyrical plot in Byron‘s political satire The Bronze Age. It is shown in the essay that on the one hand some established by that time cliché influenced the English poet‘s approaches to Russian theme and images, as it happened in Don Juan; on the other hand it is demonstrated that priority of democratic and anti-conservative paradigms of Byron‘s artistic thought provide poet‘s overcoming of the cliché, ignorance of it or using it for special ethical and political purposes as it happened in The Bronze Age. The author of the essay shows that quite often stereotypes in the perception of Russia helps Byron to signify his strong dislike of a definite country and its image as disgust towards some general laws and regulations of the contemporary world order which was based on injustice and disregard of human rights for freedom and equity. It is stressed in the essay that ‗the Russian‘ in the poems should be looked at in the context of Byron poetry‘s striving for great future of mankind.