Rot Als Malum?: Zur Geschichte Einer Signalfarbe in Russland

The fascination of color has kept the cultural and human sciences very busy over the past decades. The color red in particular has attracted special attention in recent years, which has shown both historical and social developments of the last century in the light of this color. The present work examines the meaning and use of the color red within Russian literary language and cultural-historical field. This shows that the occupation of this color in Russian customs, in Russian handicrafts, in Russian icons, in politics and art differs significantly from that in literature. This discrepancy is presented in detail here using the most important works of Russian literature. Literature breaks with traditional semantics and connects red with evil.