Contemporary Russian Literature: Responses -Reply

[FRISON Philippe]

The fate of Russian disaporas after the collapse of the Soviet Union has
been custard-pie for neo-Communists and other nationalist forces since
1991.
A lot of books have been published on the subject. Conferences have been
convened in Geneva and elsewhere.
It is the second time, or event the third time in history that Russian
literature has several "production centres".
The first time was after 1905-1917, with (White) Russian colonies in
Harbin, in Prag, in Belgrad, Paris, Munich, etc.
And now in all big cities of the so-called near abroad (including
Alma-Ata, Tashkent, but perhaps also Riga, etc.).
It would interesting to know whether this will lead to a multiple
standard of the Russian language in the same way as with the English
(all over the world), in French (in a lesser way, with France, Quebec,
French-speaking Africa, the Caribbean), Spanish (Spain or Latin
America), Arabic (Maghrib vs Mashreq dialects), etc.
For such a centralized (and closed) country like the former Soviet Union
it is something relatively unusual, but in a historical perspective
rather common.

I try to follow new developments in this field.
If you are interested in political stuff, I can give you references off
the list

Best regards

Philippe FRISON

E-mail: Philippe.Frison at Coe.fr
Conseil de l'Europe
Bur. EG 104
F - 67075 Strasbourg Cedex


> -----Original Message-----
> From: MARY PETRUSEWICZ [SMTP:PETRUSEWICZ at actr.org]
> Sent: Thursday, November 05, 1998 3:57 PM
> To:   SEELANGS at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
> Subject:      Re: Contemporary Russian Literature: Responses -Reply
>
> In 1991, there were 25 million ethnic Russians living outside of
> Russia.
> The collapse of the Soviet Union created a diaspora without anyone
> moving anywhere.  Seven years later, 23 million ethnic Russians live
> outside of Russia (2 million migrated to Russia).  23 million is a
> minimal
> figure.  There are at least 15 million more Russians who live outside
> of
> Russia who are not ethnic Russians (as defined by Soviet law), who
> nonetheless consider themselves Russian because Russian is their
> native language.
>
> So Russian language often conveys not merely an implication of
> ethnicity, but for 25 - 38 million people, a real  sense of being
> Russian, of
> belonging to Russia, as much as or perhaps more than belonging to a
> newly independent state.  How will these ethnic Russians think of
> themselves in the future?  Will they be like the Germans and argue
> that
> they are a divided nation and must someday reunify, and under one
> political roof?  Or will they insist that they are now citizens of
> other
> states?
>
> These issues are addressed by Igor Zevelev in his book _The Russian
> Question Into the Twenty-First Century: Russia and its New Diasporas_
> (forthcoming), in which he analyzes the impact of diasporas on the
> search for a new Russian identity.  Solzhenitsyn has two recent books
> about the question of Russian national identity after the collapse of
> the
> Soviet Union.  _The Russian Question at the End of the Twentieth
> Century_ (1995), and just out in Russian but not yet translated,
> _Rossie v
> obvalie_ (Moscow 1998).  In them, he addresses the question: what is
> Russia, what does it belong to, who belongs to Russia.
>
> If anyone has further reading they consider worthwhile, I would
> appreciate hearing from you.
>
> Mary Petrusewicz
> American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS
>
> >>> L Malcolm <lmalcolm at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca> 11/04/98 02:57pm >>>
> This is also a very important question for librarians. Under the
> Library of
> Congress and Dewey Decimal system, works are of course arranged by
> language,
> but  this also gives the implication of ethnicity. Where should
> diaspora
> and
> minority writers fit in? If they are separated from Russian Russian
> writers,
> this decreases the chance of library users coming across them when
> they are
> browsing in the Russian section. However, including them in the
> Russian
> section diminishes their background. Any thoughts?
>
> Lindsay Johnston