RUSSIA AND RUSSIANS IN THE WORKS BY A. PEREZ-REVERTE: INDIVIDUALITY OR STEREOTYPE?

Abstract

In modern society, the Internet has usurped the role of the main source of information, which has the ability to influence public opinion on current issues quickly and effectively. In its expanses, media tools are employed to create and promote stereotypes, often neglecting not only the veracity of the information offered, but also the norms of morality. In this situation, literature is also undergoing changes. Social and educational functions it performs tend to be replaced by the infortainment function, proper to the media. The article aims at tracing the process of Russia and its national character image formation in the works by A. Perez-Reverte, widely known to the Russian-speaking reader, by revealing typical features of the characters and judgement about Russia, on the one hand, and analyzing individual characteristics, on the other. The analysis is based on the novels La sombra del Aguila, Territorio Comanche, La piel del tambor, La carta esferica, La Reina del Sur, El pintor de batallas, El asedio, El tango de la guardia vieja and the essay El francotirador y la cabra, Sobre patriotas y palomitas, Los perros de la Brigada Ligera, Peliculas de guerra.