Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2015 number

The aim of this article is to characterize publications on journeys from Siberia to Saint-Petersburg on the pages of the popular weekly magazines («Niva», «Rodina», «Ogonek» etc.). The article analyzes specifics of thematic discourse about travelers from Siberia in the Russian periodical press of the second half of XIX - early XX centuries. This discourse appeared on the pages of several magazines for mass reading and originally had several functions: educational (stories about the new, unknown areas and exotic peoples), didactic (fostering respect for the brave, hardy and resourceful travelers), identificational (forming the national and regional identity through comparison with the most prominent compatriots). As travels from Siberia became more and more commercialized this discourse correlated with other thematic discourses dealing with controlling function of periodical press, the nature of heroism and criteria of usefulness to the nation and society. This complex of publications includes travelogues describing fictional journeys and information reports, articles about traveling and the photographs taken by travelers. A lack of travelers’ essays and notes can be probably explained by their low literary socialization. Within this discourse the relevant images of the travelers and their journeys were constructed. In the late XIX century the following words-markers dominated: «brave», «courageous», «hardy», «strong». In the early ХХ century such definitions as «tourist», «athlete», «entrepreneur», «Herostratus» were added showing that the emotional perception of traveling changed from enthusiastic to neutral or critical.