Histoire des Slaves orientaux des origines à 1689. Bibliographie des sources traduites en langues occidentales by A. Berelowitch; M. Cazacu; P. Gonneau (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 527 armed forces, taxation and finance. Particularlyas regards the latter two chapters,he fillssome majorgaps in the literatureavailableto students.These are unfashionable subjects among British and, much more, American historiansof Russia. So too is Russian economic history,which is the subject of Dixon's last chapter. This becomes evident when one comparesthe wealth of good, recent English-languageliteraturelisted at the end of the chapteron culture with its paucity where issues of power and, still more, finance and economics are concerned. That does not make these subjects any less crucial to Russia. Western academic economists in the I990S also greatly played down the role of institutions-andof the statein generatingdevelopment andprosperity.Forthis Russians paid a price. It is not in the power of historians directly to inflict damage on a society in the manner of economic advisers to governments. Nevertheless, the Anglo-Americandisdain for the statewhich was part of the heritage of the Reagan-Thatcher era, not to mention many Russians' own distaste for a despotic heritage, have to be tempered by awareness of the state'scrucialand by no means entirelynegative role in the historyof Russia. After these sections, Simon Dixon has broad-rangingchapters on society, culture and ideology. As one would expect given his background,the role of thechurch,theimpactof Orthodoxyon Russianidentities,andtheambiguities of popular religion are particularlywell-handled. He combines a balanced and comprehensive analysisof conflicting interpretationsof Russian cultural and social development with occasional moments of dry humour, and with a well-written narrative and clear conclusions. Students will like this book. Dixon asksa range of penetratingquestions,owns up when there are no clear answers,pays tributeto a range of new approachesand ideas in the literature but is never shy to re-affirmold truths. Thus, to take one example, Simon Dixon discusses sympathetically the range of recent literature which stresses the values and habits that united Russians of all classes in the imperial era. He then neverthelessconfirmsthe realityof a splitbetween elite and masswhich went considerablydeeper than in thericher,core landsof the Europeancontinent.A good many of the cliches about Russianhistoryare, afterall, true. Department ofGovernment DOMINIC LIEVEN London School ofEconomics andPolitical Science Berelowitch, A.,Cazacu,M.,Gonneau,P.Histoire desSlaves orientaux desorigines a i689. Bibliographie dessources traduites en languesoccidentales. Collection historiquede l'Institutd'etudes slaves, 39. CNRS Editions, Paris, I998. 256 pp. Indexes. FF 1452,24. THIsbibliographyof 1228 textsprovidesaccess to the primarysourceson the history of the Eastern Slavs up to I689 for those who lack the necessary knowledge of (Old) Church Slavonic, Old Russian, Old Belarussianand Old Ukrainian.This aim is achieved by listingunder the name of each text firstits chief editions in its original language and then all its translationsinto any of five West European languages: Latin, English, French, German and Italian. 528 SEER, 79, 3, 2001 Complete translationshave been preferred;partial ones are included only if they occur in one of the numerousanthologiesof historicalsources(p. io). The texts have been divided into two groups: 'Narrative and Literary Sources' (pp. 2i-96), and juridical and Epistolary Sources' (pp. 97-225). According to the 'List of Abbreviations' (pp. I I-20), the authors have searched at least I67 works in the form of journals, monographs and multivolume publicationsfor theirentries. The range of the sources covered is comprehensive. The firstpart of the bibliography lists chronicles, historical and epic texts, travel accounts, political, polemical and satirical texts, hagiographical texts and panegyric textsin honourofprinces,didacticandmoraltexts,monasticrules,apocryphal texts, liturgical texts and church services in honour of Russian saints. Its second part contains juridical codes and compilations, statutory charters granted to the Russian church, Lithuanian and Muscovite legislative texts, treaties and testaments, privileges, gifts, instructions, extracts from estate books and accounts, miscellaneous legal documents (including court judgements , complaints and petitions), correspondence and other diplomatic documents, synodical decisions, correspondence and other ecclesiastical documents, privatelegal documents and birch-barkdocuments. The bare titles of many of the entries are followed by additional material, explaining the referencesin the titlesand placing them in context. In some of the more important entries questions of authenticity are raised, doubtful attributionssignalized and crucial errorscorrected. A researcherat the start of his studieswillfindthese necessarilybriefnotes invaluable. A particularly useful feature of the book are the three indexes which conclude it: first,an index of...