‘Glush’, ‘Glubinka’ and ‘Ssylka’: some notes on the perception of space in Russian culture

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the use of some words that denote space in Russian culture (such as“glush”, “glubinka”, “provintsiya”, “ssylka”, etc.); the role these words play in the world perception; and theevolution of their usage starting from the XIX century. Unlike the traditional linguocultural approach, this articleis based on the principles of literary texts hermeneutics: using examples from a corpus of literary texts of the mainRussian authors, such as F. Dostoevsky, I. Turgenev, A. Chekhov, I. Goncharov, I analyze all the possible shadesof meaning implied in these words by the author both as an individual being and a member of Russian society, anddefine the connotations of such concepts as Province vs Cultural capitals, City vs Village, Exile for a XIX centuryliterary hero and for the Russian nation of that period in general.