Les espaces de la Russie soviétique vus par Olivier Rolin : entre stéréotype et réalité
The Spaces of the Soviet Russia as Seen by Olivier Rolin: Between Stereotype and Reality

Summary/Abstract: In the 1980s, the Soviet Union still remained a closed country where the movement of international tourists was generally put under control. However, Olivier Rolin, a French writer whose works are inspired by his many travels, manages to cross alone this country of which he knew almost nothing. He relates this «poetic walk» (as he himself calls it) in his book In Russia published in 1987, which encompasses representations of spaces, landscapes and lifestyles throughout the USSR, including Soviet cities such as Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa, Yalta, Sochi, Batumi, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk. These representations are also significantly influenced by the mythification of Russia and the USSR, and by stereotypical images of the country. The aim of this article is to analyse the linguistic means of translating stereotypes and cultural references (Russian and European ones), some of which serve as an important support to the author seeking to master this otherness that opens to him, while others are deconstructed, for the most part, in front of reality.

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