Nikolay Antsiferov. ‘That’s our life in letters’: Letters to family and friends (1900s — 1950s)

2021 ◽  
pp. 290-295
Author(s):  
D. M. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Local History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
Scholarly Publication ◽  
Intellectual Elite ◽  
Scholarly Output ◽  
Highly Skilled

The collection prepared by IMLI RAN contains letters of the eminent specialist in local history N. Antsiferov and focuses on the biography of this St. Petersburg Imperial University alumnus, who, despite many arrests by the Soviet regime on trumped-up charges, incarceration in prisons and guarded camps and exile, preserved his inner freedom and, therefore, his scholarly potential. The book details the political context that brought about the outrageous persecution of this highly skilled and staunchly apolitical scholar aswell as the abrupt clearance of charges. Also included is a summary of his scholarly output in literary history, local history and cultural studies. The book lists the scholar’s acquaintances and correspondents, e. g., M. Bakhtin, V. Vernadsky, M. Lozinsky, A. Meyer, K. Chukovsky, B. Eichenbaum, and many other members of the intellectual elite. The book is celebrated as a landmark scholarly publication; highly praised are the text preparation efforts and explanatory notes.

History and Tradition

T oung Pao ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 98 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 349-384
Author(s):  
William Gordon Crowell
Keyword(s):  
Political Context ◽  
Local History ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese Agriculture

The origins of the strategically and economically important Quebei reservoir have long been attributed to the sixth-century B.C. Chu statesman Sunshu Ao, making it China’s earliest major irrigation complex. Despite sparse evidence, this tradition became widely accepted, especially in the Huainan region. Challenges to the attribution did not rest on stronger bases and likewise assumed the reservoir to be of pre-Han origin. In reality, careful examination of the sources, of the development of hydraulic technology, and of the political context points to a Western Han origin for the Quebei irrigation complex. The result is a better appreciation of the transitional nature of the Western Han for Chinese agriculture and a cautionary example of the pitfalls of studying local history.

L’origine du réservoir Quebei, dont l’importance économique et stratégique était grande, a longtemps été attribuée à Sunshu Ao, un homme d’État du Chu au vie siècle avant notre ère, ce qui en aurait fait le plus ancien système d’irrigation à grande échelle en Chine. Malgré la pauvreté des données venant l’appuyer, cette tradition a été largement acceptée, notamment dans la région du Huainan. Lorsqu’elle était contestée, c’était sur des bases tout aussi faibles, et en tout état de cause nul ne mettait en doute que le réservoir datait d’avant les Han. L’examen attentif des sources et la prise en compte de l’histoire des techniques hydrauliques et du contexte politique suggèrent qu’en réalité le système d’irrigation du Quebei a été créé sous les Han Occidentaux. Il en ressort une meilleure appréciation du caractère transitionnel des Han Occidentaux dans l’histoire de l’agriculture chinoise et une conscience accrue des pièges de l’histoire locale.

Espionage and Exile

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phyllis Lassner
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Crises ◽  
Popular Entertainment ◽  
John Le Carre ◽  
The Cold War

Espionage and Exile demonstrates that from the 1930s through the Cold War, British Writers Eric Ambler, Helen MacInnes, Ann Bridge, Pamela Frankau, John le Carré and filmmaker Leslie Howard combined propaganda and popular entertainment to call for resistance to political oppression. Instead of constituting context, the political engagement of these spy fictions bring the historical crises of Fascist and Communist domination to the forefront of twentieth century literary history. They deploy themes of deception and betrayal to warn audiences of the consequences of Nazi Germany's conquests and later, the fusion of Fascist and Communist oppression. Featuring protagonists who are stateless and threatened refugees, abandoned and betrayed secret agents, and politically engaged or entrapped amateurs, all in states of precarious exile, these fictions engage their historical subjects to complicate extant literary meanings of transnational, diaspora and performativity. Unsettling distinctions between villain and victim as well as exile and belonging dramatizes relationships between the ethics of espionage and responses to international crises. With politically charged suspense and narrative experiments, these writers also challenge distinctions between literary, middlebrow, and popular culture.

Leisurely Islam

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Deeb ◽  
Mona Harb
Keyword(s):  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Political Economic

South Beirut has recently become a vibrant leisure destination with a plethora of cafés and restaurants that cater to the young, fashionable, and pious. What effects have these establishments had on the moral norms, spatial practices, and urban experiences of this Lebanese community? From the diverse voices of young Shi'i Muslims searching for places to hang out, to the Hezbollah officials who want this media-savvy generation to be more politically involved, to the religious leaders worried that Lebanese youth are losing their moral compasses, this book provides a sophisticated and original look at leisure in the Lebanese capital. What makes a café morally appropriate? How do people negotiate morality in relation to different places? And under what circumstances might a pious Muslim go to a café that serves alcohol? This book highlights tensions and complexities exacerbated by the presence of multiple religious authorities, a fraught sectarian political context, class mobility, and a generation that takes religion for granted but wants to have fun. The book elucidates the political, economic, religious, and social changes that have taken place since 2000, and examines leisure's influence on Lebanese sociopolitical and urban situations. Asserting that morality and geography cannot be fully understood in isolation from one another, the book offers a colorful new understanding of the most powerful community in Lebanon today.

The pragmatics of absurdity

2019 ◽  
pp. 108-137
Author(s):  
O. I. Kiyanskaya ◽  
D. M. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Political Context ◽  
Freedom Of The Press ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Organization ◽  
Socialist State ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
The Press

The analysis is focused on the pragmatics of V. Lenin’s articles ‘Party Organization and Party Literature’ [‘Partiynaya organizatsia i partiynaya literatura’] (1905) and ‘How to Ensure Success of the Constituent Assembly (on freedom of the press)’ [‘Kak obespechit uspekh Uchreditelnogo sobraniya (o svobode pechati)’] (1917). Foreign and Russian scholars alike considered the two works as components of the concept of Socialist state literature and journalism, conceived before the Soviet era. Based on examination of the political context, this work proves that Lenin was driven to write the articles by his fight for leadership in RSDRP. In 1905, Lenin obtained control over Novaya Zhizn, the newspaper under M. Gorky’s editorship, and insisted that opponents had to follow his censorship guidelines: the press had to become a propaganda tool rather than a source of income. Twelve years on, Lenin’s principles still reigned. 

Female Representation in Colombia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Pachón ◽  
Santiago E. Lacouture
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Almost All

Mónica Pachón and Santiago E. Lacouture examine the case of Colombia and show that women’s representation has been low and remains low in most arenas of representation and across national and subnational levels of government. The authors identify institutions and the highly personalized Colombian political context as the primary reasons for this. Despite the fact that Colombia was an electoral democracy through almost all of the twentieth century, it was one of the last countries in the region to grant women political rights. Still, even given women’s small numbers, they do bring women’s issues to the political arena. Pachón and Lacoutre show that women are more likely to sponsor bills on women-focused topics, which may ultimately lead to greater substantive representation of women in Colombia.

Paul and the Non-Ethnic Ethnē

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Ophir ◽  
Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Keyword(s):  
Political Context ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Apostle Paul ◽  
Discursive Formation

Chapter 5 singles out one author, the apostle Paul, who offers a novel understanding of the biblical goyim. The chapter goes against the scholarly consensus, according to which Paul simply borrowed his binary distinction between Jews and ethnē from a Jewish tradition. It shows that despite scattered cases in 1 and 2 Maccabees, in which goy is used to refer to indefinite groups of individuals, no such tradition existed. While these texts still preserve the political context of the biblical ethnē, Paul’s ethnē is totally individualized, stripped from any ethnic context. Thus, in Paul’s writing, one finds the first systematic use of a generalized, abstract category of the Jew’s Other. The chapter explains what could have led Paul to develop this discursive formation and discusses the implications. It also considers various ideas about Jews’ others in nascent Christianity and compares them to the rabbinic formation of the goy.

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