The Image of Russia in the Letters of Spanish Diplomats: Juan Valera and his Predecessors

This article examines the image of Russia in Spain in the mid-19th century, a pivotal moment when regular diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored after a long interruption. A significant role in shaping and popularizing Russia’s image was played by the Spanish diplomat Juan Valera, whose detailed letters sent to Madrid during his sixmonth stay in Russia not only attracted wide readership but also secured him a reputation of a writer. The study seeks to reconstruct an axiological portrait of the Russian state reflected in Juan Valera’s letters of 1856–1857, with particular attention paid to analyzing the written accounts of his predecessors, envoys of the 18th-century who left extensive reports on their experiences in Russia. The analysis shows that Juan Valera, as well as other Spanish diplomats, tended to interpret Russian reality through a distinctly European lens and tended to exaggerate negative aspects, such as «universal» corruption and «cruelty» at «all levels» of authority, thereby echoing the Western European stereotype of «Russian barbarism». The research draws upon the published letters of Juan Valera and the diary of the Duke of Liria, as well as archival manuscripts of diplomatic reports by the Marquis de Almodóvar, Miguel José de Azanza and Antonio de Colombi, previously only partially introduced into scholarly circulation. The study is carried out within the framework of historical and linguistic imagology and employs discursive, retrospective, and historical-comparative methods of analysis. Ultimately, the findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how enduring images of the Other are constructed, stabilized and transmitted within European diplomatic and cultural discourse.

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