ИСТИНА

Painters were first to describe the phenomenon of reflexes and their ability to give objects new qualities. Reflexes in painting fall on the depicted objects changing their colour. We are convinced that any text embraces the reflexes of the context it exists in. However, if paintings deal with colour, oratorical texts are interpreted through their meanings and values. Research on the audience’s perception of an oratorical text -- both written and oral -- shows that people often find meanings and values not implied by the text’s author. The reason is that these meanings can either exist in the interior and ambience of the room where people hear the speech, or in the style of the printed source they read it from. The Pushkin speech by Dostoevsky can serve as a telling example. The speech was delivered on June 8, 1880 on the occasion of unveiling the Pushkin Monument in Moscow. It is markworthy in some respects: first, it caused an absolutely frantic reaction of the immediate audience; second, it contained many ideas about the purpose and destiny of the Russian people. And third, oral and written editions of the text caused completely opposite reactions of the community, which had a negative influence on the author's health and virtually brought him to death. The analysis of reasons for the audience's enthusiastic reaction to the delivered speech and the analysis of accusations brought against the writer after the publication of the very same text, demonstrate a crucial role of stylistic reflexes in decoding the text.