Slovo. FIRST ERRATUM

[keenan at fas.harvard.edu]

Not CH, but Bette Davis.

>Not Yale, but Harvard.
>
>And there are now many more reasons -- inescapable reasons -- in both the
>text and the documentary record for concluding that JD was the author.
>Although I am unable to deal with all comments at the moment because I am
>completing a rather long monograph on the subject, I shall post some
>"theses" in a few days as a general armature for discussion.  You may wish,
>as Celeste Holm says in "All About Eve," to "fasten your seatbelts."
>
>The motivation question is indeed complex; I shall offer a complex but, I
>think, plausible explanation.
>
>
>
>At 08:11 PM 5/5/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>>The text, regardless of its source, is universally considered a brilliant
>>>work. If someone can identify an author of the late 18th century who was
>>>capable of writing at this level, then I would accept the forgery theory.
>>
>>So far I don't think anyone has mentioned the theory (promoted by Edward
>>Keenan of Yale in a memorable debate here at the U of C) that the author is
>>the great Czech theologian and philologist Josef Dobrovsky.
>>
>>It's been a while, but as I understand it the argument relies on three
>>basic points: (1) that Dobrovsky had the opportunity to see the manuscript
>>of Zadonshchina before it was made public in the 1790's; (2) that JD,
>>without question one of the great linguistic minds of his time, had the
>>requisite philological knowledge to write the Igor Tale, or to provide
>>linguistic advice to the manuscript's author; and (3) that no mention of
>>the IT occurs _anywhere_ before around 1790.  I'm a bit unclear as to what
>>Dobrovsky's motive for forging an Old Russian document would be; but the
>>argument is intriguing.
>>
>>
>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>Jason Pontius
>>Slavic Languages and Literatures
>>University of Chicago
>>japontiu at midway.uchicago.edu
>>
>>The Slavic Dungeon:  http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/slavgrad
>>
>>
>
>
Edward L. Keenan
Professor of History
Harvard University
Robinson Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138

(617) 495-2556   FAX: 496-3425