Slavic Studies

The article examines the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth`s description in «Opisanie sveta», a Russian translation of the Latin cosmography «Descriptio Orbis» by Luca de Linda. This description, to which Luca de Linda paid special attention, has been changed in the translation: the parts about geography, ranks, and Polish kings are reworked and contain details absent in the original. The translator's tactic is silence and change of emphasis: thus, if the original pays much attention to the political history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the translation turns the text into a few legenda­ry stories and a list of dates, and completely excludes references to Polish-Russian contacts. As a consequence, some parts about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are more a rewriting than translation, possibly based on other texts. «Descriptio Orbis» reflects the situation of Polish-Russian conflicts in the early 17th century, while «Opisanie sveta» appears after the Treaty of Perpetual Peace. Thus, the translator, firstly, levels the significance of the fragments about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth present in the original, and, secondly, creates a more neutral image of the state.

This article is based on conversations in Serbian conducted in spring 2024 with Vesna Nikolić, a Roma woman from the village of Rgotina (Eastern Serbia, Zaječar region), concerning funerary and commemorative customs in the Timok region. The rituals and customs of the Vlachs (Serb. Vlasi), who predominantly migrated to this area in the 19th century, influenced Serbian folk tradition and, as the dialogue reveals, Roma rituals and customs. Nikolić, who, in her own words, «didn’t go to school», speaks fluently three languages: her native Romani, Serbian, and German. Her narratives emphasize the idea that her Roma family possesses a «Vlach mentality» (although she doesn't know the Vlach language), due to their long-term coexistence with the Vlachs (Romanians). The death of her eldest daughter less than a year prior makes the recorded dialectal texts partially autobiographical: responding to questions, the narrator conveys her thoughts on various ritual actions, prohibitions, prescriptions, and their motivations. Analysis of the conversation reveals that this «outsider» Roma ethnic group possesses extensive knowledge of both Serbian and Vlach rites, the latter adopted from their ancestors' wanderings through the Zaječar region. Adherence to Vlach tradition is unsurprising, as Vlach funerary and commemorative rituals are rich in prescriptions based on a developed folk mythology concerning the afterlife, the means of entering it, and ensuring a comfortable existence there – a process in which the deceased's relatives can assist from «this world». Each segment of the Romani woman's stories of her past few years reveals a specific ritual character (evidently not only Vlach, but also Roma and, in part, Serbian, perceived as its «own»). The article highlights the terminology of traditional folk culture used, which in this peripheral Serbian region differs from the commonly accepted usage.

The article, written as part of the work on the topic «Russian literature in the Czech periodical of the 1920s», is dedicated to one of the most influential periodicals of the left political wing, the cultural magazine «Tvorba» and shows the process of radicalization of left literary criticism by the end of the decade, when a work of art, regardless of the specifics of its poetics, served only as an instrument of propaganda. Founded in 1925 by F.Х. Šalda, the periodical was initially oriented towards left intellectuals; after J. Fučík took over the leadership, aiming to expand the readership at the expense of the working class and to seek for a special niche for the magazine among of numerous left-wing press, the attention of the editors from contemporary Russian literature was transferred, on the one hand, to other national literatures of the USSR, and on the other, to cinema, which was perceived as a more promising means of influencing the broad masses, while the artistic side of works ceased to be an object of interest in critical notes on literature. The magazine addressed Russian classics mainly in connection with theatrical productions (especially works by L.N. Tolstoy). In the first two years, the editors paid attention mainly to poetry (S.A. Yesenin, B.V. Klyuyev, not counting the only review article on Russian literature by J. Weil, «The Path of New Russian Prose», 1927), then exclusively to prose – in reviews of books in Czech translation (G.D. Venusa, K.A. Fedin, V.G. Lidina, F.V. Gladkova). Emigration figures were subjected to criticism – I.G. Erenburg, N.F. Melnikova-Papoušková.

The article examines little-known texts from the late 19th century by Slovak writers Terézia Vansová and Martin Kukučín, which stand out from the entire corpus of Slovak realistic works of that period and are the first examples of the genre of dystopia and fantasy in Slovak literature. In addition to their genre originality, T. Vansová’s short story «2888» (1887) and M. Kukučín’s unfinished novella «Taurus» (c. 1895–98) are united by their ideological and thematic focus: both authors harshly criticize the Slovak national-patriotic movement of the 1880s–90s, in particular the «Martinites» of S.G. Vajanský, J. Škultéty, and others, accusing them of idealism, indecisiveness, and disunity. The main problem of Slovak society, according to both writers, is the lack of unity and cohesion, which can lead the entire Slovak nation to the most tragic consequences – to its complete destruction, which we see in the analyzed anti-utopian works. Against the background of the works of other Slovak realists of the so-called «first wave», who often demonstrate the idealization of Slovak reality and even some utopianism, the texts of T. Vansová and M. Kukučín stand out for their incriminating pathos and give us rich material for reflection both on the features and diversity of Slovak realism and on the origins of Slovak science fiction literature.

N.M. Karamzin was the first to call Afanasy Nikitin a merchant and compare him to European diamond traders. The opinion expressed by Karamzin became almost generally accepted. However, a comparison of the «Troitsky» copy of the literary monument known to Karamzin with other variants of the text shows that the historian had no direct grounds to consider Afanasy Nikitin a merchant. An appeal to other texts by Karamzin allows us to conclude that India for him is primarily associated with wealth and the opportunity to get rich by trading in jewelry – a narrative characteristic of European civilization in the 18th–19th centuries. Karamzin uses the text he discovered to confirm his own ideas about trade as an instrument for connecting different cultures. This context of Karamzin's reflections was not taken into account by later historiography, which uncritically accepted the interpretation of the great historian. On the contrary, the general context of the appearance of Afanasy Nikitin's notes in Slavia Orthodoxa remained almost unnoticed.

The article is based on scientific materials published in the PR China in the first half of the 1990s. It examines the views of Chinese scholars on Moscow's actions in the post-Yugoslav space in the first years after the dissolution of the SFRY and armed conflicts, the most well-known of which was the war in Bosnia 1993‒1995. Special attention is paid to their assessment of the influence of RF policy on the balance of forces in the region. It also analyses vectors of Russia’s actions and interests and reveals the dynamics of its periodic adjustment: from a subordinate position in the concert of Western powers to the desire to exert its own influence staying in the framework of forced self-constraints.

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