Though this unique account focuses more on the people and less on politics than other accounts of the time, Ross includes a fascinating account of a lengthy private interview with Trotsky in December 1917. He ends the book by looking ahead to Russia’s possible future, from a perspective after the Bolsheviks took power but before the Civil War changed everything. Delving into important themes rarely mentioned in other foreigners’ writings about the Russian Revolution, Russia in Upheaval gives a unique sense of the times.

The second revised edition of this innovative book teaches the user to read Bulgarian by taking advantage of the similarities between Bulgarian and Russian. Fifty-one sections explaining the structure of the Bulgarian language are reinforced by thirty-six reading selections, fourteen of them new. The book can be used with a teacher or for self instruction. Persons without a knowledge of Russian will need to look up more words in a Bulgarian-English dictionary. Starting with the first reading selection broad use is made of proverbs, which provide content intended for native speakers and interesting for the message conveyed, but with limited vocabulary and only those grammatical structures which have been explained to date. New reading material includes, among other things, uncut short stories by Elin Pelin and Yordan Yovkov, the first thirty-six articles of the new Bulgarian Constitution, a short epic song starring Krali Marko and Sharko the Wonder Horse, a selection of Gabrovo jokes, encyclopedia articles (on Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian language, three leading scholars, St. John’s Day), poetry by Hristo Botev, and more. Charles Gribble taught Slavic languages and linguistics for forty-nine years at three universities: Ohio State, Indiana, and Brandeis. In 2006 the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences honored him with the Marin Drinov Award for his scholarly contributions in the field of Slavistics and Bulgarian studies and for his development of scholarly collaboration between the USA and the Republic of Bulgaria. In addition to his other achievements, Charles Gribble was co-founder of Slavica Publishers and served as its president from 1966–97.

This book is an attempt at the impossible: to describe for non-Russians what Russian common knowledge might be. It is the Russian obvious—that is ob+via, in the road, in the way: what you might trip over if you ignore it or don’t see it. It is the information one Russian assumes another has when they are talking together. It is the background against which words take on meaning. If one knew all of common knowledge, then all humor would be comprehensible. The book was written because the Russian equivalent for Thomas, “Foma”, might share origin in language but certainly doesn’t share place in society. It was written because in translation the obvious often isn’t; and sometimes it’s hard to answer when you don’t know what your friend has in mind. The book was written for the traveler who might be happier or even healthier knowing what to expect; it was written for those in business who want to avoid pratfalls as much as they want to see possibilities; and it was written for those studying the language who are blessed with curiosity and (temporarily) tired of verb forms. The assumption is not that the readers know Russian, but that they do want to know about Russians and their language. (There are also a few hints on what to expect for Russians new to America.) This 4th edition is more than a revision: we are adding material on computer language and are returning Abbreviations to the fold; we are adding a brief section on where to go for more details. In many small and large ways we have brought the information up to date. “… one of those rare books that are both so original in concept that they seem to create their own genre and so remarkably useful that it soon becomes difficult to imagine how one ever got along without them.” — Barry P. Scherr, Mandel Family Professor of Russian, Dartmouth College For more about the Author or the book please visit: here

This volume exploits the analytical category of "space" to unify the various disciplinary approaches and thematic concentrations applied here to the dynamics of historical memory within and between the Germans and Poles. This category has proven tremendously useful in memory studies, yet it has thus far been considered almost exclusively in its intuitive, geographical and physical dimensions. The editors reject the notion that only a physical landscape can impact the topography of the mind, and instead posit three different "œspaces" of Polish-German memory "physical, political, and literary“ envisioning the potential for identifying many more. In the first section, the contributors explore the traditional "œphysicalâ" space of memory through non-traditional means. Rather than make a case for the agency of nature in how Poles and Germans remember their shared past, they focus on human designs for the transformation of space as a means of facilitating either remembering or forgetting (or both). The second section moves to political space in German politics and post-war Polish-German relations. The third section highlights the cultural-intellectual imaginary by illuminating the "œliterary spaceâ" of Polish-German memory. Finally, the volume closes with an afterword from legendary Polish dissident Adam Michnik, for whom the present task of re-mapping Polish-German memory serves as a springboard into broader reflections on the ethical, juridical, and political future of the transnational space framed by the Polish-German past. This book is recommended for library collections at community colleges, four-year colleges, and research universities.

Ján Kollár, famed poet, romantic nationalist, and Lutheran pastor for the Slovak community in Budapest, took the Slavic world by storm in the early nineteenth century with his idea of Slavic Reciprocity. Kollár conceived of Russians, Poles, Czechs, and South Slavs as tribes of one great Slavic nation, destined for a glorious future if they would but unite. Kollár's ideals inspired poets, patriots, and politicians for over a century. Ironically, the (linguistic) reforms Kollár suggested for bringing about Slavic unity ultimately contributed to the fragmentation of the Slavic world. Kollár's book on Slavic Reciprocity has been published in German, Czech, Serbian, and Russian, but now appears for the first time in English, annotated, and accompanied by an introductory essay on Kollár's life, influences, and posthumous impact on the Czechoslovak and Yugoslav Republics. From the Introduction: Despite Kollár’s importance to Slavic history, his works have seldom attracted attention in the Anglophone world. The most detailed account is an analysis by Peter Black, who in 1975 briefly summarized both Kollár’s Reciprocity and Ľudovít Štúr’s Slavdom and the World of the Future in a single volume. This scholarly neglect probably derives from the national subdivisions inside Slavic studies, both historical and literary. Several Czech thinkers treat “Kollář” as a sort of honorary Czech: Tomáš G. Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, wrote that “as our first awakener, he is Czech, but he was born in Hungary.” This has affected his presentation in the Anglophone world. Kollár’s birthplace, Mošovce, lies in the center of the Slovak Republic, and Slovak scholars claim Kollár as a Slovak. Lusatian-Sorbian, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovene historians discuss Kollár’s influence on the Sorbs, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. None of these national approaches, however, do justice to Kollár’s life or thought: to understand Kollár’s impact on the Slavic world, we must transcend contemporary national categories. About the editor/translator: Alexander Maxwell did his master's degree in Budapest at the Central European University and his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has lived and worked in Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Bucharest, Reno, Swansea, and Erfurt. He has published several articles on Slovak history, historical sociolinguistics, and cultural history. He now teaches history at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. This book is recommended for library collections at four-year colleges and research universities.

Ukrainian language study changed dramatically when Ukraine became an independent state in 1991. Rozmovljajmo! (Let's Talk!) is the first textbook to fully embrace the new realities of the Ukrainian landscape and to incorporate the latest advances of the communication-focused classroom. Mainly geared toward college-level work, Rozmovljajmo! can also be used for advanced high-school learners. At the core of the book are twenty-two lessons, each beginning with situational conversations or "polylogs" and communicative exercises, and followed by grammatical explanations with further exercises for practice. These lessons allow for a variety of classroom pedagogical approaches and provide a wealth of material for structured and open-ended conversational exercises, as well as providing a clear reference grammar that will aid more traditional learners. The lessons are supplemented by a detailed "Ukrainian for Russian Speakers" section that specifically aids students who have studied Russian by giving them, for example, lists of false cognates, explanations of correspondences, and historical divergences. The book also includes fourteen topical conversation lessons above and beyond the polylogs to further diversify the book's utility, as well as tabular appendices, a glossary, and a detailed index. For those who wish to learn or teach the Ukrainian that is now spoken in Ukraine, Rozmovljajmo! will be an indispensable tool. The authors have carefully keyed the text to the dominant conversational standard in post-Soviet Ukraine. Authentic texts and numerous illustrations incorporated into the book will provide students with a good sense of today's Ukraine. Rozmovljajmo! sets a new standard for Ukrainian-language instruction for the decade to come.

Winner, 2007 AATSEEL Award for Best Contribution to Language Pedagogy (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages)

The Russian Context defines Russian culture by describing the limits of the common (high) culture as it is referred to in everyday language. By high culture we mean literature, art, science, history, and we also include proverbs, government, and geography. This is not, however, the history of historians, the science of scientists, or the art of art critics. It is the background of information one educated Russian expects of another when they speak. Its appearance in language is taken as the evidence of the culture. The Russian Context is a collectively authored monograph which aims to quantify the minimum level of cultural literacy necessary for serious foreign learners of Russian to appreciate and function properly in the Russian cultural context. The book covers the full spectrum of Russian culture and is bundled with a CD-ROM disk enriched by nearly 1,800 graphic and sound files. 

"The Russian Context... is infinitely rich and varied; in a way it may be even more difficult to become 'fluent' in a language's context than in the language itself, but this volume will provide readers with an excellent start."  From the foreword by Barry Scherr, Dartmouth College

Winner, 2003 AATSEEL Award for Best Contribution to Language Pedagogy (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages)

Book Reviews

Review in Russian Life, Jan-Feb 2003

Review in Slavic & East European Journal, Volume 47, No 1: 147

In the novel Envy Jurij Olesha addressed one of the most critical issues of his time -- the impact of the October Revolution on Soviet intellectuals. This issue is part of the larger cultural and literary paradigm which surfaced in the nineteenth century, namely, the isolation of intellectuals from both the autocracy and the lower classes. Since open condemnation of the system was unwise and difficult, Olesha resorted to an indirect critique of the underlying philosophical structure on which the new state was based. The complex images for which Envy is famous and respected have inspired incisive criticism, especially in the West, but these studies have, typically, ignored political and philosophical concerns central to the work. Political issues addressed in the novel were not lost, however, on critics. Olesha's contemporaries initially praised Envy but were subsequently uneasy about it, especially upset by what they perceived as his biased treatment of the main characters. Given that Russian literature has long been the arena where social and political conflicts are embodied in personae representing opposite arguments, their reaction was no surprise. No critics, however, looked for political or social judgments in the images or cultural references themselves, where Olesha concealed his most subtle and damning attack. By considering mythic archetypes of revolution, gender, and marriage, Olesha touched on the larger questions central to his work -- the perpetual flux of revolution and the connection between the family and revolt. The function of the writer relative to the Russian/Soviet state and his use of language, both tool and weapon, focus on the larger issue of revolution -- specifically on the role of literature -- as counterweight to the system. Olesha's use of intense visual images and his simultaneous admiration and castigation of experimental art and artists are central to the larger question of revolution as a universal phenomenon.

This book is both a continuation of Slavica's tradition of publishing scholarly books on literature and a departure from our usual type of book. Richard Burgin, a Russian Jew, was born in Warsaw in 1893 and educated at the Petersburg Conservatory of Music. From child prodigy to concertmaster and associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, his story intertwines Russian culture and the new life that he made in America. His daughter's book is interesting on several levels. It should be noted that the entire book, other than the notes and bibliography, is written in the "Onegin stanza" (14 lines, iambic tetrameter, with fem/MASC rhymes: aBaBccDDeFFeGG) in English. The degree to which it reminds one of the original will be striking to those who have read Onegin in Russian. It is not really a biography of Richard Burgin in senso stricto, but rather an imaginative work based in part on Burgin's life and reminiscences up to 1943. It is also related, in many ways, to Pushkin's novel in verse. The outside reader to whom the manuscript was submitted responded that it "...constitutes a brilliant if covert commentary on Onegin. ...But why Richard Burgin? He was the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for many years, a musician's musician. He is part of the 'generation of the 1890s' of Jakobson, Majakovskij, etc., of whom much is being written now, and of the many Mischas and Jaschas, boy prodigies who were plucked out of the various Slavic ghettoes to study violin in [the] Peterburgskaja konservatorija. The book is a very interesting chronicle of the music scene in Russia at the time, and of [the] US emigre Russian music scene, from prodigy concerts at Carnegie Hall to the BSO under Koussevitzky and since. It should appeal to Slavists and musicians, and to emigres of all generations, including the very latest ...this book illuminated Onegin for me as much as any of the well-known translations-comments -- and in a fresh and memorable way. In a different way." You will find this book absorbing and delightful, and if you are a Russianist, you'll also find yourself reading sections from it to your friends. The book is different from most of our books, but vive la différence!

The Russian Gothic Novel surveys the long-overlooked subject of the Gothic novel in Russia. It focuses upon a variety of Russian writers, ranging from Karamzin and Bestuzhev-Marlinsky to Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Tolstoy, who were influenced by British Gothicists like Ann Radcliffe. The excitement and dynamism of the Gothic has long been ignored, as has the infusion of spirit into Russian literature from the Gothic. The Russian Gothic Novel dispels the myth that the Gothic was simply about things which go bump in the night. It was perhaps the first truly psychological literature, involved with mortality, justice, natural right and wrong, aristocracy and mystery. Although the appurtenances of the Gothic, creepy castle crypts and cobwebs, often lasted as the chief legacy of the Gothic, these devices were not what attracted Russian writers to the genre. Each writer saw something unique in the Gothic but they all saw a literary form which challenged, roused a reader's sentiments, and gave cause for thought. In Russia the Gothic was, at times, nothing short of insurrectionist, questioning time-honored social norms and political customs. To dismiss the Gothic as nothing more than a fad, which dovetailed into or out of Romanticism, would be to overlook one of Russian literature's more important areas.

Readings in Czech is for students who have mastered the rudiments of Czech grammar. It introduces them to a body of Czech texts widely divergent in style and subject matter. Each selection is prefaced by a brief description of its source and context. A small number of the non-literary readings identified in the preface have undergone minor editing (mostly by deletion rather than addition or change). After working through the selections and memorizing the basic vocabulary words, students will be able to read most Czech texts without difficulty. For the historian the reader offers an outline of Czech history by one of the deans of Czech historiography, excerpts from Czech translations of Cosmas's Chronica Bohemorum and Charles IV's autobiography, selections about Hus and Comenius, an essay comparing Masaryk and Benesh, Masaryk's own essay on Communism, a sketch of early Czech emigration to America, a passage from Fuâk's Report from the Gallows, and a textbook account of the Slovak National Uprising. For the social and political scientist it contains the 1962 statutes of the Communist Party and "Two Thousand Words" -- the most controversial document of the 1968 movement. For the linguist there are articles on the differences between Czech and Slovak, the formation of the modern Czech lexicon, the structure of modern colloquial Czech, and examples of Slovak and Old Czech. The student of literature will find an essay on Prague School poetics by Mukarovsky, Masaryk's view of Tolstoy, and reflections on Kafka's Czech ties. Although some of these readings are necessarily specialized, none is so technical as to discourage the uninitiated. Furthermore, they occur side by side with abundant examples of Czech poetry, prose, folklore, and songs, and items of general interest (a letter written by Dvorak from New York, an analysis of the techniques of an important practitioner of the Czech cinema's new wave, etc.). The glossary comprises approximately 2,500 of the most common Czech words, culled mainly from Frekvence slov, slovnich druhu a tvaru v ceskem jazyce (Prague 1961) and supplemented by the vocabulary lists of several elementary Czech grammars and a modicum of grammatical terminology. Pertinent morphological information accompanies each entry. All words that do not figure in the glossary are defined on the page where they appear. The purpose of this system is twofold: first, it saves students the time of thumbing through dictionaries for words they are unlikely to meet again soon; and second, it provides them with a guide to high-frequency words, words they ought to be learning first. "...strongly recommended." (SEEJ) "...the book's only shortcoming is that it did not appear earlier." (CSP)

A uniquely conceived four-semester language training sequence designed especially for undergraduates not majoring in Russian. Because reading is the single most practical and permanently useful of all language skills, the primary focus of this course is on the development of reading competency and fluency in any discipline or field of interest. The emphasis on interiorization of the language structure and on the acquisition of a basic vocabulary characteristic of expository prose also prepares the student for further study to develop oral skills with a minimal expenditure of time and effort. The Introductory Course stresses good Russian pronunciation and presents the grammar and vocabulary typical of expository prose. The vocabulary to be mastered consists of about 1,000 high frequency words common to most fields of human knowledge, as well as high frequency words occuring in both the written and spoken language. The Advanced Course consolidates previously-learned materials while also expanding the student's knowledge in breadth and depth. A special section appended to this volume contains a large number of supplementary reading selections of interest to a broad segment of college level students. "...Pearce is to be commended for a major contribution to the area of Russian language teaching." (MLJ)

Part 1 covers chapters 1 to 6, or about one semester of college work: Part 2 covers the second semester, and Part 3 is for use in the second year. After Part 3 the student can read ungraded texts with the use of a dictionary.

A number of schools experienced dramatic increases in enrollment after adopting this book. Lipson's book was the first to use the Jakobson one-stem verb system in teaching Russian; it also introduced many other concepts to Russian pedagogy, and its ideas have been the stimulus for a number of other books (those published by Slavica include Townsend's Russian Word-Formation, M. Levin's Russian Declension and Conjugation, and Gribble's Russian Root List.) Lipson's book not only presents Russian grammar in a new and more accurate way -- it also motivates the students to learn by providing them with imaginative and clever situations and texts that overcome the students' self-consciousness and inspire them to speak. The book is full of a delightful humor that most students find an exciting change from the usual dry textbook style. Both American and Soviet life styles, values, and traditions are satirized. The Teacher's Manual by Molinsky is by far the most complete and thorough teacher's manual for any Russian textbook, and it makes using the Lipson book easy for beginners as well as experienced teachers, since it gives step-by-step instructions for each class hour, with sample lesson plans, assignments for homework, sample tests, and explanations of why the book is constructed the way it is and what each section accomplishes. The Teacher's Manual is particularly useful for schools where much of the teaching is done by graduate students, since it gives them the day-to-day guidance that they need when starting their teaching careers.

Audio materials that accompany the language-learning text are available through Boston University's Geddes Language Center here: http://www.bu.edu/geddes/services

"It is unfortunate that Lipson chose to employ humor throughout the book for it limits the appeal of what is otherwise a well-organized and clear presentation of Russian grammar and morphology." (MLJ) (Note from the publisher: we agree that people without a sense of humor should not use this book, zhnor, probably, should they be asked to review itch, but most students do seem to have a sense of humor and like a textbook that has some. Being dry is not an obligatory quality of a textbook.)

Find Part 2 of the course here

or Part 3 of the course here