It is well known that the invasion of the French army in Russia caused a sharp, ambiguous reaction in the noble society. For the common people, the Frenchman as an interventionist was an enemy from the very beginning. But for the nobles from the last quarter of the XVIII century, everything French - forms of everyday culture, literature and art, language-was a role model. It was considered fashionable not only to speak, but also to think in French. In the city estate and rural estate, two estate languages functioned: French - for gentlemen, Russian-for commoners. The war clarified the obvious thing: "although they [the French - G. S. ] became close to the higher state, being either uncles or teachers, but the higher state in Russia is not yet the whole of Russia" (Notes by M. I. Marakuev / / 1812 in memoirs, correspondence and stories of contemporaries. Moscow, 2001).
Napoleon's invasion, the associated disasters, and especially the outrages of his soldiers in Moscow between September 2 and October 11, 1812, called into question the Gallomaniacal ideals of high society. Looking ahead, we note that the war did not interfere too much with the Gallo-Omani hobbies of the nobility. F. N. Glinka turned out to be right, who prophetically wrote in his diary on November 7, 1812: "Who knows, maybe these scumbags will get better, and our people will snatch them by the hands - into teachers, not even allowing them to become humanized" (Glinka F. N. Notes of a Russian officer / / They kept the oath of loyalty: 1812 the Year in Russian Literature, Moscow, 1987). Already on January 19, 1814, Count Rostopchin wrote to Emperor Alexander: "The mania for the French did not pass in Russia" (Correspondence of Emperor Alexander Pavlovich with Count F. V. Rostopchin // 1812 in memoirs...).
For the speech situation of 1812, the most relevant phenomenon was noticed and characterized by V. G. Belinsky: "The year 12 contributed to the birth of publicity as the beginning of public opinion" (V. ...
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