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Yuri Zaretsky
Russian Federation
Contact
CURRENT RUSSIAN STUDIES ON FIRST-PERSON WRITINGS
(FROM TWELFTH TO EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY)
The
present overview covers seven subject matters and ends with conclusions. The
subject matters are:
1.1.
Russian Archival Terminology
In
the commonly accepted Russian archival language the terms first-person
writing or
egodocument
are not used. The most respected among Russian archivists Dictionary
of Contemporary Archival Terminology [Slovar’ sovremennoj arkhivnoj
terminologii] (Moscow, 1982) offers two other terms that correlate to the
first-person writing and egodocument: document of personal origin
[document lichnogo proiskhozhdenia] and inventory of personal origin
[fond lichnogo proiskhozhdenia] (the latter contains references to
documents of personal origin).
1.2.1. The Definition of the
document of personal origin
The
meaning of the term
document of personal origin
is quite vague. In archival records management it is defined as any document
produced by a person that is not related to his/her performance of official or
public duties.
1.2.2. The Notion of the inventory of personal origin
The
inventory of personal origin in archival records management is understood
as a set of documents containing documents originated during the lifetime of a
person, a family or a clan. A typical structure of such inventory (here taken
from the Dictionary of Contemporary Archival Terminology) includes:
·
Manuscripts of the provenance individual (fondoobrazovatel) (scientific
works, literary writings, etc.)
·
Biographical materials of the provenance individual (personal documents,
documents of official and public activities)
·
His/her correspondence (both outcoming and incoming)
·
Materials related to the provenance individual (memoirs about this individual,
reviews of his/her writings, etc.)
·
Visual materials (photos, portraits, drawings, etc.)
·
Materials of relatives of the provenance individual
It
seems obvious that inventories of personal origin may be of use for the
first-person writings hunters. Meanwhile, it is clear that this type of archival
inventories offers limited opportunities for them. Firstly, because its
structure is designed in accordance with the idea of a “modern individual” (i.e.
it does not correspond to the idea of a “medieval” or an “early modern”
individual). Secondly, because this “modern individual” is suggested to be not
an “ordinary man” but an intellectual (writer, scientist, man of arts, etc.).
Thirdly, because in archival practice autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, letters
and other first-person writings are frequently allocated to different other
types of inventories.
The
most comprehensive and detailed guide on published Russian first-person writings
is a fifth-volume annotated bibliography by Piotr Zaionchkovsky: Zaionchkovsky
P.A. History of Pre-Revolutionary Russia in Diaries and Memoirs. Annotated
Index of Books and Journal Publications [Istorija dorevoljutsionnoj
Rossii v dnevnikakh i vospominanijakh. Annotirovannyj ukazatel' knig i
publikatsij v zhurnalakh], 5 vols. (Moscow, 1976-1988)
The
bibliography is organized in alphabetical order of authors (Vol. 1 – “A-B,”
etc.) and covers documents from fifteenth to early twentieth century. It is also
marked by two other important characteristics: it is unfinished; many texts it
covers can be hardly treated as egodocuments.
Three most recent serial publications of first-person texts are given below:
3.1.
Russia in memoirs series by the New Literary Review Publishers [Novoe
Literaturnoe Obozrenie], Moscow (http://www.nlobooks.ru)
Main
characteristics of the series:
·
Preference to unpublished texts or texts appeared in rare periodicals and books
·
Preference to texts written by “common people” from different strata of Russian
society
·
Most
texts are of nineteenth and early twentieth century
·
More
than 30 books published since late 1990s
3.2.
History of subjectivity series by the Academic Project Publishers
[Akademicheskii projekt], Moscow (http://www.aprogect.ru/)
Main
characteristics of the series:
·
Collections of first-person writings (both Russian and Western European
translated into Russian) with scholarly introductions, commentaries and
bibliography
·
Designed for university teaching
·
Already published: Medieval Europe [Srednevekovaia Evropa]
·
In
print: Ancient Rus’ [Drevniaia Rus’]
·
On
the list: Italian Renaissance [Italianskoe Vozrozhdenie] (3 vols.)
3.3.
Sporadic publications in other series
Example: Memoirs of Siberians. Nineteenth century [Memuary sibiryakov. XIX
vek] in The History of Siberia. Documentary Sources series
Main
characteristics of the publication:
·
Includes earlier unpublished and barely known texts
·
The
texts are written by people from different social strata: local bureaucracy,
merchants, Kazaks
·
The
edition contains extensive introductory article, footnotes, bibliography
4.1.
History and theory of literary genres
·
Krushelnitskaya E.V. Autobiography and Hagiography in Old Russian Literature
[Avtobiografija i zhitie v drevnerusskoi literature] (Saint Petersburg,
1996)
Annotation: Scholarly publication of a number of sixteenth-seventeenth century
writings with detailed comparative analysis of manuscripts. The main aim of the
study is to trace how “autobiographies” have been transformed into
“hagiography.”
4.2.
Historical source studies
·
Tartakovsky A.G. Russian Memoirs from the 18th to mid-19th
Century: From manuscript to book [Russkaja memuaristika XVIII – pervoj poloviny
XIX veka. Ot rukopisi k knige] (Moscow,
1991)
·
Idem. Russian Memoirs and Historical Consciousness of the 19th
Century [Russkaja memuaristika i istoricheskoe soznanie XIX veka] (Moscow,
1997)
Annotation: The works contain the most comprehensive historical analysis of
Russian memoirs of the period. The analysis mainly discusses how “historical
events” are “reflected” in memoirs. The notion “memoirs” is poorly defined and
indistinct.
4.3.
History of childhood
·
Kosheleva O.E. ‘My Own Childhood’ in Old Rus’ and
in Enlightenment Russia (16th-18th
cent.) [Svojo detstvo v Drevnej Rusi i Rossii epokhi Prosveschenija (XVI-XVII
vv.)] (Moscow, 2000)
·
Bezrogov V.G. (ed.) Memory of Childhood: Recollections about Childhood from
Late Antiquity to Early Modern Times [Pamjat’ detstva: Vospominanija o
detstve ot pozdnej Antichnosti do rannego Novogo vremeni] (Moscow, 2001)
·
Bezrogov V.G. (ed.) Memory of childhood: Recollections about Childhood in the
Epoch of Rationalism and Enlightenment [Pamjat’ detstva: Vospominanija o
detstve v epokhu ratsionalizma i Prosveschenija] (Moscow, 2001)
4.4.
History of women / women studies
·
Savkina I. Conversations with the Mirror and with Behind the Mirror:
Autodocumentary Women Texts in Russian Literature of the First Part of the 19th
Century [Razgovory s zerkalom i zazerkal’em: Avtodokumental’nye zhenskie teksty
v russkoi literature pervoi poloviny XIX veka] (Moscow, 2007)
·
Pushkareva N.L. At the background of woman autobiography in Russia [U istokov
zhenskoj avtobiografii v Rossii], Filologicheskie nauki, 2000, vol. 6
·
Soupriyanovich A. Women’s Identity and Medieval Mysticism: a Gender Analysis
[Zhenskaia identichnost i srednevekovaia mistika: opyt gendernogo analiza]
(Moscow, 2008)
4.5.
History of the self
·
Zaretsky Yu. Autobiographical Selves: from Saint Augustine to Protopope
Avvakum [Avtobiograficheskie Ja: ot Avgustina do Avvakuma] (Moscow,
2002)
·
Zaretsky Yu. Renaissance Autobiography and Individual Self-consciousness:
Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II) [Renessansnaia avtobiografiia i
samosoznanie lichnosti: Enea Sil’vio Pikkolomini (Pii II)] (Nizhnii
Novgorod, 2000)
4.6.
History of everyday life
·
Kosheleva O.E. “Correspondence of Princess P.A. Khovanskaya (1670s):
Communicative Functions” [Perepiska kn. P.A. Khovanskoj (70-e gg. XVII v.) i eio
kommunikativnye funktsii], Among Friends and Family. Individual and Group in
Eastern and Western Europe before Modern Times [V svoem krugu. Individ i gruppa
na Zapade i Vostoke Evropy do nachala Novogo vremeni] (Moscow,
2003)
·
Koshenova N. Sources of Personal Origin on Siberian Merchants fom
Mid-Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century [Istochniki lichnogo proiskhozhdeniia
o sibirskom kupechestve vtoroj poloviny XIX-nachala XX vv.] (Barnaul, 2005)
Annotation: An abstract
of Ph.D. thesis defended at Altai State University
·
Memoir/autobiographical literature
– most common both for literary criticism and historiography
·
Autobiography
– mainly used in literary studies
·
Egodocument
– gains growing popularity in historiography and cultural studies
·
Autodocumentary text
– newly emerged in literary criticism (launched by Irina Savkina)
·
INSTITUTE OF THEORY AND HISTORY OF PEDAGOGICS, RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF EDUCATION –
http://raop.ru/
·
CENTER FOR VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND EGO-HISTORY, RUSSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOR THE
HUMANITIES –
http://www.rsuh.ru/section.html?id=2917
Conclusions
At
present there exists a considerable background for the study of first-person
writings in Russia. The main constituents of this background are the developed
tradition of research on egodocuments and the present-day scholarly activity of
academics all over Russia. A special interest to the study of first-person
writings has been revealed in the last two decades. This interest has resulted
both in the rapid growth of publications of first-person texts and studies on
them, and in the increase of discussions on the subject within the scholarly
community. What is peculiar for the current state of first-person writings
studies in Russia is its close connection with the university teaching. The
desired actions for promoting first-person writings studies are: creation of a
national network that would bring together researchers in the field; integration
of this network into a larger international one; translations of studies on the
subject from and into Russian.
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