Gorky query

[Robert A. Rothstein]

Simon Krysl wrote:

> Dear colleagues and friends,
> apologies to bother with yet another question - bibliographical rather
> than otherwise. An essay ("Za chistotu iazyka," Zvezda, 1953) I have
> been using in my dissertation research quotes Gorky in respect to
> the "purity" of language: "Neosporimaya tsennost' dorevoliutsionnoi
> literatury ...  v to, chto , nachinaia s Pushkina, nashi klassiki
> otobrali iz rechevogo khaosa
> naibolee rochnie, iarkie, veskie slova i sozdali tot 'velikii
> prekrasnii
> iazyk', sluzit' dalneishemu razvitii kotorogo Turgebev umolial L'va
> Tol'stogo."

    This is apparently from Gorky's article "O iazyke", published in
_Pravda_
    on March 18, 1934.

> ...And secondly, are there
> cultural/ literary histories focusing specifically on
> the "normalisation" of language in the First Writers' Congress time?

      A number of histories of the Russian literary language deal with
the early Soviet period or have a chapter on Gorky's efforts on behalf
of the language.  See, e.g., G. I. Shkliarevskii, _Istoriia russkogo
literaturnogo iazyka (Sovetskii period)_, Khar'kov 1973, or the chapter
on Russian in _Slovanske spisovne jazyky v dobe pritomne_, ed.
Milos Weingart, Prague 1937.

        Bob Rothstein

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                  http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------