Славистика и русский романтизм: несостоявшаяся встреча

The birth of Slavic philology and the spread of Romanticism in Europe are cultural phenomena that occurred in the same period of time (between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century) and partially share a common origin. The pivotal role the languages have played in defining the Volkgeist (in Russian narodnost’), the interest in the folklore, and the epic poetry and the Medieval history are only some of the topics connecting Slavistics and Romanticism. However, at the beginning of the 19th century, cultural and literary processes in Russia were not highly influenced by Slavic philology. This essay aims at finding the reasons behind this “missed encounter”; one of which is found in the central value that the nationalistic State still had in Russia, where its prestige hindered the cult of nationality. The image of the Russian identity, although involving the language and the cultural history of the country, lacks ethnic or mythological traits. That becomes clearer if we compare the Russian situation with that of the other Slavic nations, where in the same period the choice of a “popular” language as national language reflects the strain towards an idealised nationality full of ideological implications. The identification of language and nation typical of the European self-determined nations remains marginal in Russia