Introduction: Judaica Rossica—Rossica Judaica

Abstract

This introductory chapter of the book Jewishness in Russian Culture briefs about the studies of both Russian Jewish literature and of the role of Jews in Russian literature. The non-Jewish readers' and critics' near total ignorance of the Jewish world and its realities rendered whole strata of Russian Jewish literature unreadable or misunderstood by the Russian public. The pioneering studies of Russian Jewish literature, which began to appear in the 1970s, treated 1940 as the last year of this literature's existence: this was the year of Jabotinsky's death and of Babel's execution. Texts authored in French by non-French Jews and devoted to the concerns of Russian and Eastern European Jewry became an important part of French Jewish culture. The inclusion of the Jewish population in the Russian Empire brought the meeting of the Russian and the Jewish worlds. The meeting made necessary the formation of an intercultural dialogue. Keywords: Babel's execution; French; intercultural dialogue; Jabotinsky's death; non-French Jews; non-Jewish readers; Russian Jewish literature