Introducing the Slavic Research Group

Tue Sep 28 15:18:47 UTC 2004

Dear SEELANGERS,

This letter has a two-fold purpose: first, to introduce you to a
Canadian research centre that is now entering its seventh year with
almost 20 publications to its credit; secondly, to acquaint you in
particular with our latest volumes in our Tolstoy series -- a priceless
addition to any scholar's or academic library's collection on
Tolstoyana.

The Slavic Research Group (SRG) at the University of Ottawa was created
in 1998 as an interdisciplinary centre for research and publication on
Slavic themes.  It has brought together a number of scholars from
diverse disciplines (languages, linguistics, Slavic history, Canadian
studies, criminology), diverse branches of Slavdom (Russian, Polish,
Slovak, Serbian) and diverse geographical locations (Ottawa, Toronto,
Victoria, Montreal, Lublin, St-Petersburg, Moscow) to contribute to a
better world understanding of Slavic literature and culture, especially
from a Canadian perspective.  Our external members comprise: Marina
Shcherbakova of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow; Anna Biolik,
Canadian Consul-General in St-Petersburg; Henryk Duda of the Catholic
University of Lublin; as well as Canadian scholars: Gunter Schaarschmidt
of the University of Victoria; Donna Orwin, editor of the Tolstoy
Studies Journal at the University of Toronto; Danijela Stojanovic of
McGill University; J.L. Black and Piotr Dutkiewicz of Carleton
University here in Ottawa and Arkadi Klioutchanski, a Ph.D. student at
the University of Toronto.  Not long after its inception, the SRG was
pleased to welcome as Honorary Members Galina Galagan and Lidija Gromova
of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St-Petersburg & Moscow
respectively).  We were saddened to hear of Dr Gromova's passing on 31
December 2003 -- please see the tribute to her on our website at:
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/gres/mmgromen.html

In addition to actual research and publication, our activities have
included hosting lectures, cultural (art & literary) events and
exhibits, film festivals -- most of them open to the public at large and
frequently in co-operation with the embassies of Slavic-speaking
countries here in Ottawa, the nation's capital.  Just this past year the
SRG worked with the Russian Embassy to mount two exhibits of the
contemporary Russian artist Igor' Soldatenkov.  As another example, in
early 2003 the late Yugoslav ambassador Dr Miodrag Perisic gave a talk
on "Story-telling and the perception of history", and a month later his
wife Zaneta Djukic-Perisic spoke on the role of Ivo Andric in bridging
East and West in South Slavic literature.  (Apologies for the absence of
diacritics, but I fear these might not come through in the e-mail
transfer.)

The SRG has been involved in several international Slavic conferences.
In October 1999 the SRG, in conjunction with our university's Institute
of Canadian Studies, put on a a major international conference marking
the centenary of the Doukhobor emigration to Canada, and published the
Proceedings a few months later.  In June 2002 one of our members, Slovak
Chair Mark Stolarik, organised a high-profile conference here at the
university celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Slovak Republic, at
which the keynote address was delivered by none other than Slovak
President Rudolf Shuster.   And over the past few years SRG member
Richard Sokoloski has organised a series of conferences in Lublin on
translation between Polish and other languages; the third volume of the
Proceedings thereof has just been published by the SRG in our Polish
Translation series.

Since its inception, a major focus for the SRG has been cultivating ties
with major academic institutions in the Slavic-speaking world --
specifically, to date, in Poland and Russia.  In the former category we
have signed memoranda of agreement with the Polish Academy of Arts &
Sciences, the Catholic University of Lublin and the Jagiellonian
University in Cracow.  In Russia we have established formal ties with
the Russian Academy of Sciences (in particular, its Institute of World
Literature in Moscow and Institute of Russian Literature [Pushkinskij
dom] in St-Petersburg), the Tolstoy museums in Moscow and Yasnaya
Polyana, the Moscow State Institute of Interational Relations (MGIMO) as
well as Canada College at the University of St-Petersburg.  Within
Canada we have co-operated with the Centre for Research on
Canadian-Russian Relations (CRCR) at Carleton University and the
University of Toronto's Centre for Russian and East European Studies
(CREES).

Such ties have contributed toward a number of joint publications with
some of these institutions.  A few examples: (a) the three volumes in
our Polish Translation Series, published jointly with Towarzystwo
Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubielskiego in Lublin; (b) The Unity
of people in Leo Tolstoy's works, co-published by the Russian Academy of
Sciences in Moscow and St-Petersburg; (c) several other volumes in our
Tolstoy series, published in conjunction with the State L.N. Tolstoy
Museum in Moscow.

Which brings me to the second focus of this introductory letter: the
latest item in the (c) category above is a two-volume publication
comprising some 1150 pages, entitled: L.N. Tolstoi i N.N. Strakhov:
polnoe sobranie perepiski / L.N. Tolstoy and N.N. Strakhov: complete
correspondence (ed. A. Donskov).  This integrated exchange of letters
between Leo Tolstoy and his friend and editorial associate Nikolaj
Strakhov is now available for the first time in its entirety.  What
awaits its reader is a unique insight into the minds of two great
late-nineteenth-century Russian thinkers as they engage in earnest
dialogue on a wide spectrum of religious, philosophical, social and
literary questions.Ý

The letters are complemented both by the editor's introductory essay (in
English, and including a bibliography) and by extensive annotations
(many drawn from archival sources) prepared by two leading Tolstoy
scholars in Moscow: the late Dr Lidija Gromova, who was Head of
Classical Literature at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of
Russian Literature, and Tat'jana Nikiforova of the State L.N. Tolstoy
Museum.Ý The result is a most important resource for any future research
into either Tolstoy's or Strakhov's views on life and literature
(bearing in mind that Strakhov was indeed a philosopher in his own
right), as well as the nature of their unique relationship (Tolstoy
often consulted with Strakhov in developing his own literary ideas, and
let himself be guided by the latter's highly valued input).Ý At the end
of Volume II may be found a summary chronological listing of all letters
as well as two indexes: one of Tolstoy's works and the other of people's
names mentioned in the letters, annotations or introduction.

For further information on these remarkable volumes, please see Hugh
McLean's review in Tolstoy Studies Journal, Vol. XV (2003), pp. 122-124,
along with our advert on p. 130 of the same issue.  Details are also
available on our website at:
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/gres/tolstrakhen.html

I would like to take this opportunity of inviting you to explore the
other pages on our site.  From our home-page --
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/gres/
-- a click on the 'English' button will take you to a general
introduction with links to several sub-sets of pages, including "What's
new", "Our members", "Publications", "Happenings" and "Liaisons &
Links".  Or you may prefer to peruse the French-language pages of our
site.  I think you will find a number of our publications will prove
desirable acquisitions for your personal collection and/or that of your
university Library.

Sincerely,

Andrew Donskov, F.R.S.C., Distinguished University Professor and
Director, Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa

Website: http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/gres/
E-mail:  slavicre at uottawa.ca
Telephone:  (613) 562-5800 X1007    Facsimile: (613) 562-5160

     Postal address:
     Slavic Research Group
     University of Ottawa
     134 -- 70, Laurier Ave East
     Ottawa, Canada  K1N 6N5

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