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All posts in category Russian journals

Four short links: digitized 20th-century collections

In the last few days I’ve come across a couple of nice collections of digitized early 20th century Russian journals and books, reminding me of what great resources there are out there, freely available to read and in some cases reuse (which does beg the question of why so many other things are locked away […]

From Herzen to Leskov, and back again

I’ve been re-reading Nikolai Leskov’s Cathedral Clergy (Soboriane) in the excellent recent translation by Margaret Winchell (Slavica, 2010) for a new undergraduate course I’m starting to teach in the Autumn, Identities in nineteenth-century Russian literature. The first part of the course – and in many ways the most interesting for me in terms of preparing […]

The Free Russian Press in London

When I wrote a post on Herzen in London, my focus was primarily on the man himself, rather than his publishing activities. But much of the discussion generated by the post recently has focused on the Free Russian Press (Вольная русская типография), leading me to conduct some further research, supported significantly by the contributions of three readers: […]

Russian perspectives on the Great Exhibition (6)

I’m going to skip one report, from Sovremennik, 29 (September 1851), Sovremennye zapiski pp. 63-4, which consists only of a rather dry description of works in gold, silver and precious stones (my plan is to publish the articles and translations separately, and this one will be included then). Instead I shall move straight to the final […]

Russian perspectives on the Great Exhibition (5)

This is the fifth report from Sovremennik on the Great Exhibition, and this time we get two sections. The first discussing aspects of London life, entertainment and commerce surrounding the Great Exhibition and commenting on the quality of reporting in European journals – criticizing them for their preoccupation with London life and entertainment and lack […]

Russian perspectives on the Great Exhibition (3)

Actually, this is the second, not the third report, from Sovremennik, taken from the June Miscellany of volume 27 (May-June 1851). I failed to spot it first time round. For those of you who aren’t familiar with 19th century Russian journals, they can be pretty confusing – they’re generally 800-900 pages long, and in several […]

Russian perspectives on the Great Exhibition (2)

The second article on the Great Exhibition in Sovremennik [The Contemporary] appeared in the foreign news round-up of the July-August issue. While the first report was somewhat unclear in its origins, this one was evidently cobbled together from reports in the European press. A further development is apparent regarding the naming of the building; the […]

The opening of the Great Exhibition: a view from Russia

The level of interest from around the world in the Great Exhibition was really quite remarkable, and Russia was no different. I’ve been digging out articles from Russian journals and present here what must be one of the very first, from the May-June issue of Sovremennik for 1851, which deals with the build-up to the […]

Russkii vestnik: random volumes on archive.org

This is just a hotch-potch of five volumes ranging from 1871 to 1888 that are on archive.org. It includes a couple of instalments of Leskov’s At Daggers Drawn and Dostoevsky’s Demons and, tantalizingly, there’s a notice in volume 138 advertising Brothers Karamazov starting in the new year. Otherwise I’m mainly interested in a couple of […]

Russkii vestnik 1856

1856 saw the first volumes of Russkii vestnik appear, and as Russian culture began to emerge from the stagnation that characterized the final years of Nicholas I’s rule, the journal began with a strong set of contributors, many of whom then continued to appear in the journal for many years. Literary works include Ostrovsky’s play […]