Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch. N.F. 2 (2014) – Abstracts
Franz Ritter von Miklosich
(1813–1891)
Zu seinem 200. Geburtstag
Gerhard Neweklowsky (Wien / Klagenfurt)
Franz Miklosich (1813–1891): On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birthday. – Franz Miklosich was born in 1813 in former Southern Styria, which now belongs to Slovenia. In 1830 he went to Graz in order to study philosophy, which was a prerequisite for the study of any other subject. There, in the Illyrian Club, and in the Slovene students organization his linguistic and political ideas were formed. In 1839 he moved to Vienna in order to finish his law studies. There he became acquainted with the most outstanding slavist of that time, Jernej Kopitar. According to his influence, Miklosich became more and more interested in Slavic studies. Miklosich̕s famous review of Franz Bopp's Comparative Grammar in 1844 opened the way for a scholarly career. In 1848 Miklosich was elected deputy to the Austrian Reichstag. In this duty he became acquainted with the Austrian minister of education, who proposed to the emperor the foundation of a university chair of Slavic philology, the first professor of which Miklosich became in 1849. His main works were his contributions to Old Church Slavonic grammar, and the Comparative Grammar of the Slavic Languages, furthermore, to lexicography and grammar, not only Slavic but also Romanian, Hungarian, Albanian, Modern Greek, Turkish, and Romani. Of high value was his Etymological dictionary of the Slavic languages. He was a pioneer of onomastic studies.
Keywords: History of Slavic studies, Franz Miklosich, Jernej Kopitar, Franz Bopp, Comparative grammar, Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco- latinum, Pannonian theory of Old Church Slavonic, Etymological dictionary, onomastics, lexicography and grammar of Slavic, Romanian, Hungarian, Albanian, Modern Greek, Turkish, Romani, Miklosich̕s students
Типы аргументации в споре о книжных реформах патриарха Никона: «силлогизм Аристотеля» и похвала языку
Ирина Подтергера (Freiburg i. Br.)
Types of Argumentation in the Controversy on Patriarch Nikon’s Book Reforms: Aristotle’s Syllogism and the Praise of Language. The paper is concerned with a well-known element of the history of the Russian language in the 1660’s: the controversy concerning the correctness of several new translations of religious writings. The focus is on the 25th Exposure from Simeon Polotskii’s Rod of Governance, which is interpreted as a specific kind of text – as a so-called Aristotelian syllogism – and considered alongside another sort of text with argumentative purposes, the praise of language. It is thus placed in the context of argumentative forms and techniques widely used in the religious metadiscourse of the second half of the 17th century.
Keywords: argumentative forms and techniques, religious metadiscourse, translation theory, praise of language, Aristotle’s syllogism
Verkehrte Welt? Kirchenslavisch als Vorbild beim ersten ossetischen Druck (1798)
Vittorio Springfield Tomelleri (Macerata)
The spread of the Christian faith among the pagans (or muslims) of the Russian empire was, as a rule, tightly connected with the problem of literacy. Besides the creation of a totally new alphabet, as in the case of Stephen of Perm’ (second half of the 14th century), we are usually faced with the attempt at adapting the Cyrillic alphabet to unwritten languages in order to convert, and in this way acculturate to Russian civilization, various peoples living at the fringe of the expanding Empire. In this article, one of those experiments, carried out in the North Caucasus, is discussed, namely the choice of the Church Slavonic alphabet for the first printed book in the history of the Ossetic language (1798). The text, a catechism written in Russian and Church Slavonic languages with a parallel Ossetic translation, is introduced by a short Church Slavonic primer, which goes back, through different textual stages, to the famous Azbuka of Ivan Fëdorov. This bilingual catechism deserves special attention not only from a linguistic point of view, but also as a very interesting model for diffusing Russian Orthodox culture and religious traditions among non Slavic-peoples.
Keywords: Church Slavonic Primer, Christianity in the North Caucasus, Ossetic language, Cyrillic alphabet
Anton Chekhov reading memoirs (the case of Anna na shee)
Ekaterina Lyamina (Moscow)
The paper points out Chekhov’s pronounced interest in memoirs, primarily Russian, published, inter alia, in history periodicals. As a case-study, arguing the key thesis, it is demonstrated how Anna on the neck (Anna na shee) short story (1895) imports and develops main themes and situations of Anna Kern’s memorial essay Three encounters with Emperor Alexander, first published in 1870.
Keywords: Chekhov, Russian prose and narrative, Russian memoirs of the 19th century
Zu Sprachkompetenzen und Sprachverhalten von jungen Weißrussen und Ukrainern in Weißrussland und der Ukraine und zu Schwierigkeiten eines solchen Vergleichs auf der Basis unterschiedlicher Erhebungen)
Gerd Hentschel (Oldenburg), Bernhard Kittel (Wien)
Our paper On linguistic competences and linguistic behaviour of young Belarusians and Ukrainians compares linguistic skills and the choice of linguistic codes in the two post-soviet countries which are usually described as bilingual, either Belarusian-Russian or Ukrainian-Russian. Russian dominated in both areas for more than 100 years. In addition, in both countries very widespread forms of mixed speech have emerged. In post-soviet times, only the Ukraine has reinforced the role of the language of the titular nation. The observations presented are based on self-judgements of younger speakers, in contrast with corresponding ones by older people. Last not least, we will illustrate how problematic it is to gain comparative insights into the language situation in the two countries if data are only available from specific surveys and not from comparative ones with common concepts and questionnaires.
Keywords: Bilingualism, language conflict, mixed speech, linguistic skills and choice of language, Russian out of Russia, language policy, Belarus, Ukraine
Der faktographische Literaturunterricht an tschechischen Schulen und seine Kritik (1820–2011)
Ursula Stohler (Fribourg), Ondřej Hník (Prag)
The article „The factographical teaching of literature at Czech schools and its criticism (1820–2011)" discusses theories about the teaching of Czech literature from the 19th century to the present day. The authors suggest that the so-called „factographical“ type of literature teaching, which mainly focussed on facts from literary history, was repeatedly criticized in studies on the teaching of literature. Simultaneously, theorists kept emphasizing the benefits of a type of literature teaching that was based on the principles of independent reading, learner-centred analysis, and assignments that involved creative approaches. This discrepance between a factographical type of literature teaching as it existed in the experience of many teachers and learners, and an ideal type of literature teaching as suggested by many critics persisted in various forms of government and political regimes. Among them are the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the First Republic, the socialist regime, the post-socialist period, as well as the capitalist.
Keywords: Literaturgeschichte, Literaturunterricht, Didaktik, Faktographie, tschechische Literatur, Pädagogik, Schulen, literarisches Lernen, kreatives Schreiben, lernenden-zentrierte Aufgaben
„Ruhm der Arbeit, Daniel Josefowitsch…“: Zum Bild der Sowjetunion in Josef Škvoreckýs Roman Der Seeleningenieur
Michael Düring (Kiel)
„Glory to work, Danny Iosifovich…“: On the Image of the Soviet Union in Josef Škvorecký’s novel Přibĕh inženýra lidských duší. – Škvorecký’s novel (1977) belongs to a series of novels, in which the author’s literary alter ego Danny Smiřický tells about his life and fortunes. In the first novel of the cycle, Danny has a distinct image of the Soviet Union, which oscillates between fascination and fear. The last novel of the series, however, presents, albeit from the perspective of another character, an already completely different image – the Soviet Union is nothing more than a caricature of itself.
Keywords: Josef Škvorecký, Přibĕh inženýra lidských duší, literary alter ego, image of the Soviet Union
Черт и/или межевой: о наименовании беса „черт“ у славян
Любинко Раденкович (Белград)
In the article “The Devil and/or the One Who Lives on the Borderline: About Calling the Devil “Chert” in Slavic Languages”, the author conducts a comparative analysis of popular beliefs in Slavic cultures which are linked to the boundary strip. Such beliefs justify an explanation of the name “chert” (черт) – “demon”, “devil” – referring to a mythological creature that from the nineteenth century onwards dominates the popular demonology of East Slavic Nations. A boundary strip is a strip of land that marks the boundary separating a plot belonging to one clan (family), tribe, or village, and land owned by others, sown and unsown land, dry land and a body of water, a field and a forest. Such a boundary constitutes a special spatial category in popular culture, as it is linked not only to outdoor space, but also to the house and the backyard. The role of the boundary is particularly important in rituals concerning the human life cycle. Boundaries of this kind are also guarded by souls of the dead, which are linked to land fertility and the protection of the crop. A particular group of such souls could be called “чртовые (чертовые) беси” (“the borderline demons”) earlier. We suppose that the Russian word “черт” in the sense of “demon” (“бес”) is a Polonism of Czech origin, which came to Russian from the Ukrainian language or directly from Polish.
Keywords: Devil in Slavic popular beliefs, boundary strip, boundary, those who died an unnatural death, Slavic popular demonology, etymology
„wes Geistes Art sein Gegner ist“: Der Übersetzer Alexander Eliasberg im Ersten Weltkrieg (Aus seiner Korrespondenz mit Igor’ Grabar’)
Carmen Sippl (Wien)
„the enemy’s mentality“: The translator Alexander Eliasberg in World War I (From his correspondance with Igor Grabar). – Alexander Eliasberg (1878–1924), born in Minsk, studied in Moscow and lived since about 1906 in Munich where he started his career as one of the most prolific translators from Russian into German. It is the time of a great enthusiasm for Russian literature, starting at the turn of the century and achieving its first climax on the outbreak of World War I, paralleled at this time by propaganda written partly by the same German and Austrian writers who previously, and later on, were such elated by Russian literature. In 1915 Eliasberg publishes a book on Russian Art, designed and advertised as a „study on Russian national character“. This articles focusses on the sources of Eliasberg’s book, especially his correspondance with the Russian painter and art historian Igor Grabar (1871–1960), and its reception in war time.
Keywords: Alexander Eliasberg, Igor̕ Grabar̕, Russian art, history of mentality, German-Russian literary contacts, translation studies, World War I
Предварительный список русской религиозной литературы, изданной на оккупированных территориях СССР , в Германии и некоторых сопредельных европейских странах в 1941–1945 годах
Борис Равдин (Рига)
The article „A Preliminary List of Russian Religious Literature Published on the Nazi-Occupied Territories of the USSR as well as in Germany and Some Neighboring European Countries in 1941–1945” presents a detailed and annotated bibliographic list of the books, calendars and serials and explains the differences among their targeted audiences in different places.
Keywords: religion, World War II, Latvia, Transnistria, The Brotherhood Hiob of Pochaev printing press at Ladomirova (Slovakia), Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Priest Nikolajs Vieglais, the question of old and new orthography in Russian emigration
«Как ужасно бороться одной со своими стихами…» Начало литературной деятельности Раисы Блох в Берлине
Федор Поляков (Вена)
The article „«How dreadful it is to fight alone against one’s own verses …»: The beginning of Raisa Blokh’s literary activities in Berlin“ sheds light on little known aspects of the biography of Raisa Blokh, a specialist on Middle Age history and Russian woman poet of Jewish origin, who perished in 1943. The materials presented here are adapted from the partially preserved letters by Blokh from Berlin to Grigorii Lozinskii, a Petersburg specialist on Romance philology, translator and literary historian, who lived in Paris and was one of the main contributors to the literary periodical Zveno („Chain link“). Blokh’s letters convey essential information on her attitudes towards the situation in Russian emigration and describe the circumstances in which her first poetry collection Moi gorod („My Town“) appeared in 1928.
Keywords: Russian émigré culture in Berlin in 1920s, Acmeistic traditions, literary criticism, Raisa Blokh, Mikhail Gorlin, Grigorii Lozinskii, Vladimir Nabokov