scholarly journals How Tatiana's voice rang across the steppe: Russian literature in the life and legend of Abai

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Naomi Caffee
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Centennial Celebrations ◽  
The Russian Language

The Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbaiuly (1845–1904) today enjoys a dual legacy as the father of modern Kazakh literature (as distinct from its oral tradition) and also as an enlightener who translated the Russian classics into Kazakh and acted as a vital bridge between the two cultures. Much of Abai's reputation owes its existence to the twentieth-century author, critic, and scholar Mukhtar Auezov (1897–1961), whose biographical writings on the poet formed the standard narrative of his life and work. Initiated in 1937, the year of the Pushkin centennial celebrations in the Soviet Union, Auezov's literary canonization of Abai hinges on the poet's acquisition of the Russian language and his transformative encounters with Russian-language texts – most notably among them, Pushkin's Dubrovskii and Evgenii Onegin. In Auezov's account, Abai's efforts lead to the discovery of an authentically Kazakh literary voice, heralded by his successful adaptation of Pushkin's Evgenii Onegin into traditional Kazakh song form. In analyzing this prominent episode of the Abai legend, I argue that Russian literature's “conquest” in Central Asia was in fact a multifaceted dialogue in which writers laid the foundation for distinct national literary traditions by appropriating the literature of the colonizer – and in particular by reading, translating, displacing, domesticating, and “disorienting” the figure of Pushkin.

scholarly journals Do History Lessons Ever Pay off? A Diplomat’s Memoir

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodric Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Moscow River

Sir Rodric Braithwaite was educated at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, from where he went to serve in HM Diplomatic Service, having worked in Jakarta, Moscow, Washington, Warsaw, Rome, and Brussels, where he was a member of the British delegation to the European Community. From 1988 to 1992, Sir Rodric served as HM Ambassador in the Soviet Union during the decisive years of the Perestroika and the first British ambassador in Russia. Subsequently, he was appointed foreign policy adviser to the Prime Minister in the second John Major ministry and chaired the UK Joint Intelligence Committee between 1992 and 1993. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1994. As a career diplomat, Sir Rodric gained decades of insight into the troubled relations between Russia and West, having taken part in numerous negotiations on arms control. His affinity with the decision-making circles in both Russia and Britain alongside with the mastery of the Russian language allow him to skillfully dissect the underlying causes of ups-and-downs in Moscow’s relationship with the West, employing the works of both English- and Russian-speaking analysts. Among his recent books are Across the Moscow River (2002), Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War (2006), Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–1989 (2012), Armageddon and Paranoia: The Nuclear Confrontation (2017). In this essay, Sir Rodric reminisces of the years spent as a diplomat and provides his view on the usefulness and applicability of historical lessons while devising a foreign policy course.

Honor and Human Rights: A Comparative Study of Russia and Ukraine

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 669-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Oleinik
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Representative Samples

This article discusses the relative importance attached to honor and human rights in two cultures, Russian and Ukrainian. These cultures have elements of honor cultures, both historically and in the present. There are also elements of a more universalistic interpretation of human dignity that are expressed through the concept of human rights, especially in the case of Ukraine. However, the movement towards the universalistic understanding of human dignity slows down or may even be reversed in the context of a protracted war. Two sources of data inform the analysis: primary (two surveys conducted on representative samples in Russia, N = 1602, and Ukraine, N = 2020) and secondary (the complete works of two poets considered representative of the two cultures, A. Pushkin and T. Shevchenko, as well as documents in the Russian-language and Ukrainian-language segments of the Google online databank). The data were processed using methods of descriptive statistics, binary statistic regression and quantitative content analysis.

scholarly journals Neo-Renaissance and revitalization of Votic – who cares?

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Heinike Heinsoo ◽  
Margit Kuusk
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Local People ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Sparse Population ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Russian Language

The paper deals with the reason for the decline of theVotic language and neo-renaissance and revitalization of the Votic.The reason for the decline of the Votic language are the small number of people, traditionally sparse population and the assimilation – the speakers of Votic have always lived in the sphere of influence of the Russian language and culture. The reasons for neo-renaissance are the collapse of the Soviet Union, a general trend to look for one’s roots, enthusiastic votophiles and the local activities. In the earlier times Votic national movement originated from local people, but recently there has been interest in the Votic affairs on the state level.The plans for the near future are under common title the Votic project

scholarly journals Вызовы современному русскому литературному языку

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Владимир Медведев
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Literary ◽  
Language Norms ◽  
Active Processes ◽  
The Russian Language

The article is devoted to the study of some active processes affecting the system of the modern Russian language. The result of the study is the identification of factors that negatively affect the dynamics of the Russian language, which are presented in socio-political and linguistic aspects. The socio-political reasons are caused by the active reduction of the Russian-language information space in the near and far abroad area under the influence of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Unsuccessful phenomena in the current state of the Russian language consist in the intentional violation of the language norms in the Internet space, the substitution of normative vocabulary for meaningfully and stylistically belittled expressions of rural life, the clogging of the Russian literary language with words and verbal turns of slang origin, the dissemination of obscene vocabulary, the saturation of the language with words and expressions of foreign origin, and the unjustified euphemization of speech, leading to the erosion of the meaning of words. The general conclusion is the need for the serious efforts of the whole society against the simplification and the purity of the Russian literary language.

scholarly journals Image of time in language consciousness of Russians and the Japanese

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Alexei D. Palkin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Perception Of Time ◽  
Time Image ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
The Early 21St Century

Perception of the image of time in Russian and Japanese linguocultures is analysed. An association experiment has become the main experimental method. Three samplings are under consideration: that of Russians of the early 1990s, that of Russians of the early 21st century, and that of the Japanese of the early 21st century. Russians and the Japanese share general human values, but cultural differences stand out in association reactions of Russian and Japanese respondents. The experimental material available shows that the Japanese are more time-conscious than Russians. The Japanese tend to consider things in a long-term perspective, while for Russians a medium-term perspective is more urgent. The specificity of hieroglyphs leads the Japanese to perceiving a close connection between time and space, while the Russian language does not provide clues of the kind, which results in fewer reactions indicating space in Russian samplings. The paper argues that the perception of time image has altered in the Russian linguoculture recently. Russians of the early 1990s lost their axiological targets in the turmoil of the Soviet Union collapse, which is not characteristic of the 21st century Russians, who started to regain their emotional stability.

scholarly journals Internationalization of Education: La Peau de Сhagrin of the Russian Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 139-148
Author(s):  
R. M. Petruneva ◽  
L. F. Belyakova ◽  
T. L. Sidorova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Internationalization Of Education ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Russian Universities ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Central Asia Region

The article examines the processes of internationalization, provides information on the number of foreign students in various countries and in Russia, discusses the arguments for choosing the country for study by international students, including socio-cultural and linguistic preferences. The authors address the issues relating to the status of the Russian language in countries of the Central Asia region – the former republics of the Soviet Union. The article provides an information on the expansion of Western and Eastern countries into the educational system of these countries. The conclusion is made about the need for Russian universities to more actively enter the international market of educational services, especially in those areas where the Russian Federation has undeniable achievements (natural science fields of training, etc.).

scholarly journals Analysis of the Characters in The Sacred Book of the Werewolf

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 10-15
Author(s):  
Jiarui Hu ◽  
Ying Tian
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Symbols ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Two Cultures

The Sacred Book of the Werewolf is a masterpiece of Russian postmodernism literature, which is filled with magic features, oriental and occidental religions, as well as cultural symbols. The author depicts a series of expressive characters in almost acerbic descriptions. Especially when the oriental elements in foxes from China encounter the occidental elements in wolves from the West; the collision of the two cultures is obvious, which portrays all living creatures during the end of the Soviet Union and Contemporary Russia.

scholarly journals The Prospect of the Russian Language in Georgia. Insights from the Educated Youth

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Artoni ◽  
Sabrina Longo
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Southern Caucasus ◽  
Everyday Interaction ◽  
The Russian Language

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the status of the Russian language in the new-born Republics became a central issue. In the Southern Caucasus, all the Constitutions promulgated by the three Republics opted for ethnocentric language policies that accepted the titular language as the only State Language. However, the role of the Russian language as a lingua franca remained crucial for international communication and everyday interaction. It followed that it continued to play an important role also in education. The present study focuses on Georgia, where a strong derussification policy has taken place in the last decades and aims at understanding to what extent the use of Russian among the young generations has contracted. In particular, we present an analysis conducted on data collected via (i) a survey for young people consisting of questions on their sociolinguistic background and a proficiency test in Russian, and (ii) semi-structured interviews for teachers of Russian and English as Foreign Languages on the research topics.

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