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The Question of the Origins of Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great : Mediatization and Dramatization Is History in the Service of Imperial Ideology? During the reign of Catherine the Great, the question of the origins of the Russian State and people (‘the Varagian-Norman question') becomes a matter of wide discussion in Russia and in Europe. It has been a very controversial topic in the Russian Academy of Sciences and the occasion of a violent polemic between historians around 1749-50. It has long been kept secret because of the possible dangerous political consequences for the Monarchy and the national pride. The political power wanted by all means to give its subjects a glorious national history but at the same time to control the story of the origins, the ethnic aspects and possible liberal, parliamentary or democratic interpretations of the beginnings of the Russian State. While western historians (German, French and English) gave their accounts of this founding event to the Enlightened Europe, making this story widespread in the West, Catherine made ancient Russian history part of the new modern national education of the elites. She was writing plays herself and patronizing artists and printers, censuring them occasionally : she tried to orient collective memory and used it as an ideological tool to create a unified empire under her lead.

Pushkin's Death This essay is an attempt to present some new and original ideas about A. S. Puškin's duel and death. The prolific existing literature concerning the poet often ignores these two events. The author dwells on the role of N. N. Gončarova, who, according to him, provoked the duel and wished her husband's death. Although A. S. Puškin has constantly and publicly asserted her innocence, there is one exception. In his poem The Imitation of Dante, the poet severely punishes his wife and her sister (which one ?), but the fact seems to remain ignored by the ‘ Pushkinists'. Further, the essay draws our attention to some nuances of the relationship between A. S. Puškin and V. A. Žukovskij, which was not as cloudless as it is considered to be. The author uses information he has collected in the memoirs of contemporaries (friends as well as ill-wishers), of relatives, in the poet's correspondence and in such invaluable, important documentary and objective sources as V. Veresaev's Puškin's Life, the two-volume edition of Puškin's Letters, P. E. Ščegolev's book Puškin's Duel and Death, the academic edition of the Letters to his wife and, of course, in the poet's own works.

«In Memory of Herzen » (1912) At the beginning of the 20th century, in the circles of Russian liberal and radical members of the intelligentsia, anniversaries of some figures of the social movement of the 19th century used to give rise to celebrations during which the question of heritage of the Russian ‘liberation movement' was brought into focus. The case of Herzen is of special interest. Indeed, his openness and continuous evolution throughout his whole life are characteristic of his ideas and incited various ‘successors' to lay claim to his heritage. Social democrats, liberals, socialists-revolutionaries – at the beginning of the 20th century, all of them wanted to be his successors. The largest number of texts had been written for the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1912. During this celebration, Herzen became a heroic and tragic figure of Russian emigration, an iconic figure of ‘spiritual father', a figure of high moral standards who was able to overcome all kinds of ideological disagreements and to view the future of Russia with trust and pride. After the periods of despondency and political disappointments, Herzen was the symbol of belief in the future victory.

The French Cultural Text in Gumilev's Creativity French culture (its images and symbols) takes up an important place in Gumilev's creativity. French modernist painting and Gustave Moreau's one in particular largely influenced the poet's work. The images and subjects of Gustave Moreau's paintings found an echo among Gumilev's early poetic collections Romantic Flowers and Pearls, in the collection of stories The Shade from a Palm Tree and in a drama poem Gondla. French Catholic medieval art also deeply influenced the poet's work. The French cultural text appears as one of the main elements of N. Gumilev's art world.

The Ethos of Feofan Prokopovič in his Funeral Oration of Peter the Great The author of this article looks at the status of ethos in the context of sacred oratory. She shows, through Peter the Great's eulogy, the dual nature of the Christian ethos.

Continental vs Insular Prince Trubetzkoy meets Professor Jones The article is about the encounter of two great minds, apparently the nearest of men, in fact as far apart as can be in their aims and practice. Just as the habits of the English themselves, the phonology of English plunged Trubetzkoy into great perplexity. Jones, who did not seem to take much notice of the contradiction in his own definition of the phoneme, made child's play of placing the vowels of English on his celebrated Trapeze, and picking allophones. Unlike him, Trubetzkoy, faithful to Jakobson's law which specified that phonological stress and vowel duration were incompatible, suffered a great deal before eventually succeeding in complying to the requirements of the theory, and thus establishing a symmetrical representation of the English vowels. It is not certain that the final result is waterproof.

«Letter to a German Friend on the Societies of Petersburg» (1819) An Unpublished French Work by A. D. Ulybyšev This article is the presentation and publication of an unpublished French work by A. D. Ulyby ev (1794-1858), «Letter to a German Friend on the Societies of Petersburg» (1819), author the same year of a small Decembrist utopia written in French (A Dream). Ulybyšev humorously describes the conservative societies, obsessed by ranks, precedence and decorations and the superficially europeanized societies, by criticizing the slavish imitation of the foreigner. The publication is followed by extracts of Ulybyšev's diary (1843-1844) on the notables of Nizhni Novgorod. Ulybyšev, who has become a musicologist and an epicurean, appears as a free spirit and a critical observer of his time.

Available Sources for the Study of the White Terror. Sources concerning the White Terror are scattered all over the world. Russian archives are probably the most useful. In France, a large range of documents allows us to overcome the traditional belief, which examines the phenomenon as a whole series of improvised excesses in very troubled times, neither intentional nor agreed by the High Command. Records of the small government of the White général Judeni and Memoirs of emigrated anti-Bolshevik Russians lead us to consider that the White Command set up almost everywhere an ill-organized military-judicial system to exterminate Bolsheviks and even unarmed exassociates of the Soviet power. Some members of the White movement regretted an ordinary terror. Even local independent White satraps might have established an effective repression. When they rejected the White rule, moderate socialists became the witnesses to the White Terror, using testimonies as propaganda. French army officers, which helped the White armies, saw this repression and sometimes, while using espionnage, discovered some of the wheels of the White Terror. It included a large spectrum of victims that widely overcame the narrow circle of Bolsheviks.