Does “Classic” Mean “Objective”? On Early Reportage by Dmitry Sokolov-Mitrich
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyze the narrative strategies and techniques present in Dmitry Sokolov-Mitrich's reportage. The author of the article focuses on the relationship between the "objective" genre form of reportage and the ideological message hidden in the text. The study includes objectivizing narrative techniques as well as persuasive forms that are linked to the reader's automatic psychological mechanisms and by "soft" means update the image of the world that Russian state propaganda tries to impose aggressively.
The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the classic form of reportage, based on a system of objectifying strategies and not containing textual determinants of fiction, cannot guarantee the objectivity and truthfulness of the presented facts. Belief in the truthfulness of the story told can only be the result of the "referential pact" and not the formal procedures used by the reporter. The analysis of Sokolov-Mitrich's work shows that the text of a reportage can be used not only to secretly influence the audience, but also to disguise views and ideas criticized in the primary (literal) layer of the text.
Keywords
Dmitry Sokolov-Mitrich, reportage, persuasion, propaganda, narrative.
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Uniwersytet w Białymstoku Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2745-6572
Dr hab. Grzegorz Czerwiński – adiunkt na Wydziale Filologicznym Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku. Wcześniej pracował jako postdoctoral researcher na Uniwersytecie w Gandawie w Belgii. W latach 2013–2016 kierownik projektu badawczego NCN „Literatura polsko-tatarska po 1918 roku”. Autor monografii „Jam z rodu Nomadów”. Literatura polsko-tatarska po 1918 roku (2017). Obecnie zajmuje się literaturami rdzennych narodów rosyjskiej Syberii, Arktyki i Dalekiego Wschodu oraz literaturą niefikcjonalną ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem reportażu. Publikował w czasopismach: „Russian Literature”, „Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie”, „Pamiętnik Literacki”, „Rocznik Komparatystyczny”, „Ruch Literacki” i „Slavia Orientalis”. Numer ORCID: 0000-0002-2745-6572.
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