query re: Russian commonplace books

[Rebecca Jane Stanton]

Actually I have at least one friend in Petersburg who does keep what 
would, I think, be best described as a commonplace book -- into which 
she writes poems and other fragments of literature she's read that 
strike a chord with her, effectively anthologizing them for personal 
use.  She produces it quite often when I'm around and the subject of 
poetry comes up.  I can't imagine she is alone in this -- especially 
given the Russian affinity for books and libraries, the historical 
scarcity of commercially produced books, the tradition of samizdat, etc. 
-- but the question of whether it exists as a recognized cultural 
phenomenon with a name, much less a known history, in Russia is one I'm 
not in a position to answer.

Regards,
RJS

-- 
Rebecca Stanton
Assistant Professor of Russian
Dept. of Slavic Languages
Barnard College, Columbia University
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027


Frans Suasso wrote:

> I am affraid that putside the angosaxon world this phenomenon is 
> completely unknown. The Germans do not have it, the French do'nt, the 
> Dutch certainly not.
> Why should the Russians have it?
>
> Dr Frans Suasso,
> Naarden the Netherlands

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Fisher" <Anne.Fisher at WILLIAMS.EDU>

> To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 1:45 PM
> Subject: [SEELANGS] query re: Russian commonplace books
>
>
>> Dear SEELANGers,
>>
>> Can any of you point me to resources on Russian commonplace books? I  
>> was having an interesting discussion with a (non-Slavicist) 
>> colleague  about the difference between commonplace books, ladies' 
>> albums, and  writers' notebooks, and realized that I've never come 
>> across any  mention of Russians (whether readers or writers, literati 
>> or just  literate) keeping a commonplace book.
>>
>> It doesn't help that I don't know what the Russian for "commonplace  
>> book" is!
>>
>> Thanks for any leads,
>>
>> Annie
>>
>> ____________________
>>
>> Anne O. Fisher
>> Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian
>> Department of German and Russian
>> Williams College
>> Williamstown, MA  01267
>> anne.fisher AT williams.edu
>> office: 413.597.4723
>> fax: 413.597.3028
>

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