scholarly journals Russia’s identity: grand challenges

Author(s):  
V. A. Tishkov

The author formulates major components of Russian national identity that form the basis for a civic nation-building project. These are the study and preservation of historic and cultural legacies including archival and archeological heritage, historic and cultural monuments, memorial sites, historic sites, and landscapes. In addition to active projects, the author suggests novel projects: the construction of a big-data corpus for Russian and other languages spoken in the country, academic dictionaries and encyclopedias, complete works of classic Russian literature, and a multi-volume history of Russia. Social-science expertise is needed for infrastructure and development projects and the construction of mass residential buildings and transport facilities to ensure the preservation of common milieus and values that make up a national identity.

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Jarosław Ławski

The subject matter of the present article is the image of library and librarian in a forgotten short story by a Polish-Russian writer Józef Julian Sękowski (1800−1858). Sękowski is known in Polish literature as a multi-talented orientalist and polyglot, who changed his national identity in 1832 and began to write only in Russian. In the history of Russian literature he is famous for Library for Reading and Fantastic Voyages of Baron Brambeus, an ironic-grotesque work, which was precursory in Russian prose. Until 1832 Sękowski was, however, a Polish writer. His last significant work was An Audience with Lucypher published in a Polish magazine Bałamut Petersburski (Petersburgian Philanderer) in 1832 and immediately translated into Russian by Sękowski himself under the title Bolszoj wychod u Satany (1833). The library and librarian presented by the author in this piece are a caricature illustration proving his nihilistic worldview. Sękowski is a master of irony and grotesquery, yet the world he creates is deprived of freedom and justice and a book in this world is merely a threat to absolute power.


Author(s):  
Jessica Fay

This is the first extended study of Wordsworth’s complex, subtle, and often conflicted engagement with the material and cultural legacies of monasticism. It reveals that a set of topographical, antiquarian, and ecclesiastical sources consulted by Wordsworth between 1806 and 1822 provided extensive details of the routines, structures, landscapes, and architecture of the medieval monastic system. In addition to offering a new way of thinking about religious dimensions of Wordsworth’s work and his views on Roman Catholicism, the book offers original insights into a range of important issues in his poetry and prose, including the historical resonances of the landscape, local attachment and memorialization, gardening and cultivation, Quakerism and silence, solitude and community, pastoral retreat and national identity. Wordsworth’s interest in monastic history helps explain significant stylistic developments in his writing. In this often-neglected phase of his career, Wordsworth undertakes a series of generic experiments in order to craft poems capable of reformulating and refining taste; he adapts popular narrative forms and challenges pastoral conventions, creating difficult, austere poetry that, he hopes, will encourage contemplation and subdue readers’ appetites for exciting narrative action. This book thus argues for the significance and innovative qualities of some of Wordsworth’s most marginalized writings. It grants poems such as The White Doe of Rylstone, The Excursion, and Ecclesiastical Sketches the centrality Wordsworth believed they deserved, and reveals how Wordsworth’s engagement with the monastic history of his local region inflected his radical strategies for the creation of taste.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Jaquelin Coulson

This paper concerns the role of genocide in collective memory and its function for national identity-building in post-Soviet Ukraine. Known as the Holodomor, Ukraine’s famine of 1932-33 has become an important part of the country’s national history. Upon gaining independence in 1991, the Ukrainian government set out to build and affirm a national identity distinct from Russia, grounded in Ukraine’s unique history and national myths. The claim to have undergone genocide as a nation in the Holodomor comprised part of this state-building project, though whether this claim is appropriate under international law has long been disputed. This paper examines the ways in which the Holodomor-as-genocide thesis was embedded in Ukrainian national identity, particularly under the administration of Viktor Yushchenko. Through the creation of new institutions, campaigns, and laws, the Ukrainian government sought to have the Holodomor recognized as genocide at the international and domestic levels, and to make its sacred commemoration a cornerstone of Ukrainian society. This narrative was deployed to unite the nation under a shared history of suffering that effaced politically inexpedient realities, such as cases of complicity in the Holodomor and the Shoah by Ukrainian elites. Narratives assigning blame to Ukrainian Jews and Russians alike delineated a narrow conception of the true Ukrainian nation to the exclusion of the alleged perpetrators. Further, it served to distance Ukraine from Russia by emphasizing the consequences of Soviet colonialism and the importance of Ukrainian collective memory as a matter of political sovereignty and cultural emancipation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
Sh M Khapizov ◽  
M G Shekhmagomedov

The article is devoted to the study of inscriptions on the gravestones of Haji Ibrahim al-Uradi, his father, brothers and other relatives. The information revealed during the translation of these inscriptions allows one to date important events from the history of Highland Dagestan. Also we can reconsider the look at some important events from the past of Hidatl. Epitaphs are interesting in and of themselves, as historical and cultural monuments that needed to be studied and attributed. Research of epigraphy data monuments clarifies periodization medieval epitaphs mountain Dagestan using record templates and features of the Arabic script. We see the study of medieval epigraphy as one of the important tasks of contemporary Caucasian studies facing Dagestani researchers. Given the relatively weak illumination of the picture of events of that period in historical sources, comprehensive work in this direction can fill gaps in our knowledge of the medieval history of Dagestan. In addition, these epigraphs are of great importance for researchers of onomastics, linguistics, the history of culture and religion of Dagestan. The authors managed to clarify the date of death of Ibrahim-Haji al-Uradi, as well as his two sons. These data, the attraction of written sources and legends allowed the reconstruction of the events of the second half of the 18th century. For example, because of the epidemic of plague and the death of most of the population of Hidatl, this society noticeably weakened and could no longer maintain its influence on Akhvakh. The attraction of memorable records allowed us to specify the dates of the Ibrahim-Haji pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, as well as the route through which he traveled to these cities.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina V. Baydalova ◽  

The novel by Volodymyr Vynnychenko I want! (1915) was, on one hand, his literary answer to the discussion on the national question in Ukrainian society, and, on the other, it was his reaction to the accusations of him being a renegade resulting from his shift towards Russian literature. In 1907-1908, after the publication of his dramas and novels which were impregnated with the idea of “being honest with oneself” (it implied that all thoughts, feelings, and acts were to be in harmony), his works could be more easily published in Russian than in Ukrainian. This situation was taken by his compatriots as a betrayal against his native language and the national cause. In the novel I want! the problem of language identity is directly linked with national identity. In the beginning of the novel the main character, poet Andrey Halepa, despite being ethnic Ukrainian, spoke, thought, and wrote poems in Russian, and consequently his personality was ruined and his actions lacked motivation. It seems that after his unsuccessful suicide attempt and under the influence of a “conscious” Ukrainian, Halepa got in touch with his national identity and developed a life goal (the “revival” of the Ukrainian nation and the building of a free-labour enterprise). However, in the novel, national identity turns out to be incomplete without language identity. Halepa spoke Ukrainian with mistakes, had difficulty choosing suitable words, and discovered with surprise the meaning of some Ukrainian words from his former Russian friends. The open finale emphasises the irony of the discourse around a fast national “revival” without struggle and effort, and which only required someone’s will.


Author(s):  
Джээнбүбү Бегеева

Аннотация. В статье анализируется качество переводов рассказов В.Шукшина, осуществленных в середине 70-х годов С. Наматбаевым. Переводоведческий анализ вывил многочисленные стилевые расхождения между оригиналом и переводом. При переводе одного из лучших рассказов Шукшина «Чудик» искажения стиля не передали психологические тонкости рассказа. При переводе рассказа «Дядя Ермолай» философский аспект рассказа выпал, так как переводчик исказил жанровую специфику. Перевод рассказа «Два письма» оказался более качественным по сравнению с предыдущими. Переводчик рассказа «Два письма» сумел приблизиться к оригиналу, расшифровать его основную тональность, воспроизвести атмосферу напряженных поисков истины героем рассказа Николаем Иванычем. Этот перевод оказался более качественно выполненным по сравнению с предыдущим рассказом «Дядя Ермолай». Причину переводческого успеха можно объяснить, прежде всего, доступностью содержания рассказа, да и сам герой не столь сложная и глубокая личность, как повествователь в рассказе о дяде Ермолае. В целом, переводы С.Наматбаева являются своеобраз- ным этапом в переводческом деле. В настоящее время необходимо более полное и глубокое восприятие творчества В.Шукшина и создания новых адекватных переводов. Ключевые слова: качество переводов, стилевые расхождения, психологические тонкости, философский аспект, этапом. Аннотация. Макалада В.Шукшиндин аңгемелеринин кыргыз тилине которуудагы сапаты каралат, котормолор 1970-жылдары котормочу С.Наматбаев аркылуу жаралган. Котормонун сапатына талдоо жүргүзгөндө көпчүлүк каталар табылган, алардын эң олуттуусу стилдердин айырмасы, негизги чыгарма менен котормонун ортосунда. Мисалы, “Чудик” деген аңгеменин психологиялык мүнөздөмөсү жоголуп кеткен. “Ермолай байке” деген аңгемеде жанрдын туура эмес берилишинен жазуучунун негизги ою жоголуп кеткен. “Эки кат” деген аңгеме беркилерге караганда сапаттуу которулган. Котормочу " Эки кат" деген аңгемени оригиналга жакындатып которгон. Башкы каарман Николай Иванычтын изденүүлөрүн, ойлорун, чындыкты табууга аракеттерин Шукшинден кем эмес окуучуларга жеткирген. Котормочунун жетишкендиги аңгеменин түшүнүктүү мазмуну менен түшүндүрсө болот, жана Николай Ивановичтин жөнөкөйлүгү менен. С.Наматбаевдын котормолору каталарына карабастан котормочулук иште алдыга жылуу болгон. Бирок, азыркы заманда сапаттуу котормо жаратууда мезгил келди. Түйүндүү сөздөр: которуудагы сапаты, стилдердин айырмасы, психологиялык мүнөздөмөсү, негизги ою жоголуп. Annotation. The quality of translation of the Shukshins stories is analyzed in the Middle 70- years. By S.Namatbaev. The translation analysis had idenh hed numerous style discrepancies between the original and the translation. The psychological feature of the compasihion were not be hansfered by the translation one the bestand famous story by. V.Shukshin due to distorhion of the style. By the translation of the story “The uncle Ermolai” had full a phisichal aspect of the story, because the translator had distorted the genre specifics. The translation of the stories “Two letters” was wade more qualitative comparated with another stories. Generally, the Namatbaevs translation are a sui generis stage in the translatiobs. We need currently more total and profound perception of the creation by V.Shukshin. The create of the new adeavate translation is the main task. The head of the theory and history of Russian literature department. V. Shukshin’s stories and problems of translation them into Kyrgyz language. This article is analysed the quality of translation of V. Shukshin’s stories, which were written in 70 th with S. Namatbaev. Translation analyse deduced many stylistic variations between translated version and original. There is a misrepresentation, was not transmitted psychological subtleties of the story in translation of one of the best V. Shuk- shin’s story “Wierdo”. Metaphysical dimension is disappeared in translation of the story “Uncle Ermolai”, since translator destort the genre specificity. The translation of the story “Two letters” has been more qualitative in comparison with previous translations. In common, S. Namatbaev’s translation is a genius stage in translation. It needs more full and deep comprehension of S. Shukshin’s work and to establish new suitable translation. Key words: Quality of translation, stylistic variation, psychological subtleties, metaphysical dimension, stage.


Author(s):  
James Meffan

This chapter discusses the history of multicultural and transnational novels in New Zealand. A novel set in New Zealand will have to deal with questions about cultural access rights on the one hand and cultural coverage on the other. The term ‘transnational novel’ gains its relevance from questions about cultural and national identity, questions that have particularly exercised nations formed from colonial history. The chapter considers novels that demonstrate and respond to perceived deficiencies in wider discourses of cultural and national identity by way of comparison between New Zealand and somewhere else. These include Amelia Batistich's Another Mountain, Another Song (1981), Albert Wendt's Sons for the Return Home (1973) and Black Rainbow (1992), James McNeish's Penelope's Island (1990), Stephanie Johnson's The Heart's Wild Surf (2003), and Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip (2006).


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