Obshchestvo liubitelei rossiiskoi slovesnosti: 1811-1930 by R. N. Kleimenova (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 343 being gatheredfrom Russiaand the FormerSoviet Union and it is to be hoped thatlibraryprofessionalsthereand elsewherewillreporton theirholdings and make possible a future, more complete edition. Such criticisms of this bibliography as those mentioned above should not and will not prevent anyone fromusingthisveryfine resource,compiled by someone who is clearly an authorityin this area. This bibliographyis certain to be welcomed by and of greatuse to researchersin the field of Harbin studies. London S. MORGAN-CHESHIRE Kleimenova, R. N. Obshchestvo liubitelei rossiiskoi slovesnosti. i8i 1-ig30. Academia , Moscow, 2002. 624 pp. Illustrations.Notes. Appendices. Indexes. Price unknown. THE resurrectionof pre-revolutionarysymbols, traditionsand institutionsis a well-documented trend in post-Soviet Russia'ssearchfor a new identity. One is still surprised, however, to see that, even in academic writing, the reexamination of imperialRussia'shistoryis often fuelledless by the archaeologist 's desire to reconstruct and understanda forgotten or distortedpast than by the architect'sneed to lay down the foundationsof a new(-old)present. This seems to be the case with the recently published history of one of imperial Russia's major literary and learned organizations, Moscow's Obshchestvo liubitelei rossiiskoi slovesnosti (OLRS). R. N. Kleimenova's monograph, covering 120 years of the society's existence, from Alexander I to Stalin, is impressive by the quantity and accuracy of information provided, culled mostly from archivaldocuments (esp. OR RGB, f. 207) and the society'sown publications.All thisdata is neatly systematizedinto fourthematicallydefined periods of OLRS's history: I8 II-38 -the foundation of the original OLRS at Moscow University and its participation in the forging of Russia'sliterary language; I858-77 the revival of OLRS by the Slavophiles and its social activism during the reign of Alexander II; I878-I909 OLRS's role in the canonization of Russian national classics, most notably Pushkinand Gogol'; 19I0-30 -OLRS's strategiesof survivalin the period of dramaticpolitical and literaryupheavals. Kleimenova states in the preface that her aim was to breathe life into the 'dead lines' of official protocols and to chart a 'living history' of this distinguishedsociety. While the book is certainlyvery readable, the information is nevertheless often recorded with such an obsession for factual detail that one cannot, at times, avoid seeing through Kleimenova's text the official reportsand the semi-bureaucratic,semi-commemorative surveyswhich have served as her main sources. Thanks to precisely this property, however, the volume workswell as a reliable 'encyclopaedic'guide to OLRS and a valuable synthesisof its most important historicaldocuments a book indispensable to anyone making any sort of reference to OLRS's role in imperial Russia's literary and academic byt.Indeed, the work's clear and orderly structure, rigorous footnoting, name and subject indexes, and a full, chronologically ordered, list of all OLRS's executive and ordinary members, make Kleimenova 's monograph a highly-usableresearchaid. 344 SEER, 8i, 2, 2003 Kleimenova, however, makes little attempt at analysing this wealth of material in any original way. She has no interest in generalizing her findings from the perspective of a contemporary understanding of cultural, literary and socio-historical processes. Kleimenova's aim is simply to highlight OLRS's place in the progressivedevelopment of Russia'snational cultureand literature.Her purpose is not so much to understandand explain OLRS as a historical phenomenon but more to rebuild and exhibit it as a monumental structure(ofnames, factsand figures). Such an ambition would perhaps appear strangeif it were not for the fact that Kleimenova's 'monument' is being erected under the auspices of the reincarnated OLRS itself, an organization that (re-)emerged in Moscow in 1992, and in which Kleimenova occupies the important post of Academic Secretaryand the society'sofficialhistorian.In its 'impartial'fightfor 'healthy letters' (zdravaia slovesnost'), the new OLRS is consciously reviving the 'goodold ' traditionsand practices of its imperial ancestor.Meeting regularlyat the Tsvetaeva Museum, the revived society, headed by a number of eminent professors and academicians, discusses old and new problems of Russian language and literature,commemorates majorliteraryjubilees, exposes nonnormative language use in politics and the media, and, last but not least, activelyconstructsitsown distinguishedpast and identity. It would be unjust, however, to draw the conclusion that, in this context, Kleimenova's monograph represents little more than an 'official'history of the organization, on a par...