University Theses in Russian, Soviet and East European Studies 1907-2006: A Centennial Bibliography of Research in the British Isles by Gregory Walker, J. S. G. Simmons

Abstract

302 Reviews McReynolds'sanalysisisbold and engaging, ifnotalwaysentirely effective. The attempt toreconcile the dubiousviewsofDiary ofaWriter with theauthor'sfiction ispromising, butultimately privileging thejournalistic voice as thesourceofDos toevskii's 'true' beliefs merelyrepeatsinreverse thesamefault of which sheaccuses othercritics. Anotherproblemliesin thecentral assumptionthatthe Crucifixion was anoverriding moralproblemfor Dostoevskii.Such a viewappearstooriginate inan incomplete understanding of theCrucifixion, particularly as itisconceived withinthe OrthodoxChurch,as in McReynolds'sterms thefocusisentirely on the suffering ofhumanity through Christ, whereas Orthodoxyalso seesthesuffering of God. Thus theoverarching ideaof thestudy, connecting thesuffering of innocent children toa utilitarian merchant God, isunjustifiably reductive, andmisrepresents significant elements ofthe novels. Forexample, Zosima isviewedasepitomizing the calculating mentality that believesthereis 'adequate compensation' (p.167) forthe suffering ofchildren, yethisexhortation to thegrieving peasant woman not tobe comforted forthelossofherchild isoverlooked. Equally,thefundamental argu ment of the final two chapters, that Stavrogin and Ivan Karamazov alone are truly concerned withthesuffering ofchildren, ignores thefactthat Stavrogin is motivated aboveallbyself-justification, not repentance, and thatIvanchoosestheexampleof children primarily fortheefficacy ofan abstract argument, anddisregards entirely, as indeed McReynoldsdoes,the concrete andcontinuing effect ofgrief on theliving, which isZosima's focus. Even if we accept McReynolds'sview,sucha radicalreassessment of thenovels' moralitydemandsamuch broaderfocus;theabsenceofcomprehensive interpre tations based upon thisconception(thereisno discussion,forexample, ofwhere itleaves Zosima's doctrine ofuniversalresponsibility, while onlyStavrogin's con fession fromthedisputedchapter'At Tikhon's' isaddressed)raisesthesuspicion that itwould not in fact stand up to the scrutiny of consistent analysis. Thus while Redemption and the Merchant God represents a brave attempt to tackle a sticky subject, itultimately failstoconvince. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON SARAHYOUNG University Thesesin Russian,SovietandEastEuropeanStudies 1907-2006: A Centen nialBibliography of Researchinthe British Isles.Compiledanded.byGREGORY WALKER and J. S.G. SIMMONS.(MHRABibliographies, 3) London:Modern HumanitiesResearchAssociation. 2008. XV+239pp. ?30. ISBN 978-o 947623-80-7. This volume is a fascinating work in all kinds ofways. All scholars and researchers in the field are indebted to the labours of the compilers, Gregory Walker and the late JohnSimmons, forproviding what will be an invaluable research aid. This work does more or less exactly what it says on the tin, in that it is a bib liography (though notan entirely complete one,forreasonsthat will be explained) of all university theses completed in theUK and Ireland since 1907, the firstbeing MLR, 104.1, 2009 303 anOxfordB.Litt.of 1907, written byT. P.Themelisand entitled'TheRelationof the Eastern Church tothe WesternChurchesfrom theSixteenth tothe Eighteenth Century'. After a detailedandvery helpful setofpreliminaries, the mainbodyofthe workconsists ofa listing of3317 thesis titles, subdivided intothirty-two categories, andfollowed bytwoindispensable indexes, oneofthe authors ofthetheses, the other ofthetopics covered. Geographically the bibliography covers Russia,the whole area of theformer USSR, and that of theformerly Communiststates ofEasternEurope except theGDR, the exclusion ofwhich isnot explained. It is, as farasWalker can establish, and speaking chronologically, 'thelongestthesis bibliography produced for anysector ofareastudies'(p.viii). This isnot an entirely newwork, in thatitbuildson Simmons'soriginallist first published more thanforty yearsago,andwhichhas sincebeen regularly up datedeitherinOxfordSlavonicPapersor, more recently (2004), theSlavonicand East EuropeanReview. However,thiscentennial editiondoes notmerelyseek to reproduce previouslistsand bringthemup todate,but attempts a revision and rationalization ofprevious work.Despite this, Walkermodestlynotes,thepresent listisprobably notcomplete. He comments withniceunderstatement: 'Universities' procedures fortherecording, deposit, cataloguing and reporting oftheir own theses havenotalways been-nor arethey always now-eitherprompt or rigorous' (p.vii). Moreover,sometitles havebeen altered with respect toprevious versions'because thetitle of thethesis as catalogueddiffers-sometimes bya few words,sometimes entirely-from that originally listed'(p.xi).Again thiscan be ascribedto sloppy record-keeping byuniversities! Anotherproblemforthecompilers has been the quitedifferent status ascribedto Master'sdegreesindifferent institutions. The veryexistence of thislist,then, will be of invaluable benefitto future re searchers, particularly those beginning postgraduate degreesand their supervisors. The thirty-two categoriesfortheentriesare,on thewhole, fairly standardsub headings('Archaeology', 'Economics','History', 'Literature', and so on), although there are one or two irritants in the choices. Why isCinema merely a subset of Media rather than an entry on itsown? Itwas curiously depressing to find 'Logistics' (coupled with 'Transport') as a section heading. Theactualtitles ofthetheses range from the very mainstream andstraightforward ('Eduard Limonov: A CriticalStudy'; 'ThePoetry of Mariia Shkapskaia, 1903-1925') to the muchmore specialized, and esoteric('Formaland Informal Relations: Comparative Case Studiesof thePrivati sationofRussianandBritish Railway RepairPlants';'Implementation ofa Slovene Language-Based Free-Text RetrievalSystem';'CivilServiceCareers inSmall and Large States: The Cases of Estonia and theUnited Kingdom'-the listof this latter type would beverylongandveryinteresting...