Tischenko, N. V. Freedom and Non-Freedom in Literary Texts: Discourse Analysis of Writings Devoted to GULAG

Abstract: The purpose of the article is to define the strategies of opposition to the influence of prison sub-cultures on social and discursive practices in Russian culture. A good example of such opposition was found in texts under one theme ‘reflexive discourse’ that included texts written by Russian authors as memories about their time in GULAG. Using the discursive analysis method, the author defined the key signature of the reflexive discourse ‘prison — freedom’ that has the three levels of conceptual connotations. Analysis of these connotations allowed to identify the strategies of opposition to escalation of prison and criminal values in a society. Comparison of discursive practices described by literary texts and social practices shows that a project of reflective discourse appeared to be unclaimed in Russian culture. It was not realized in social practices and therefore became part of the discursive historical archives. The author of the article describes certain contradictions of reflective discourse that hinders from its influence on social practices. First of all this is the latent shift of reflective discourse expressions to criminal traditions which couldn’t have been avoided under GULAG conditions. Secondly, this is also the fact that the spread of knowledge about prison sub-culture has had a distorted effect — society hasn’t formed a negative attitude to prison sub-culture but formed a heroic image of a convict.

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