This issue of Scando-Slavica marks the journal’s 70th anniversary. The journal was launched in 1954, at a time when both the world at large and Slavic studies looked very different. Among the contributors to the premier issue, we find legendary Scandinavian Slavists such as Gunnar Jacobsson, Carl Stief, Carin Davidsson, Arne Gallis and Nils Åke Nilsson. The articles were written in German (predominantly), French, English and Polish. Today, Scando-Slavica is affected by the same tendencies as most of the scholarly world, making English the language of choice for most authors. The first issue of Scando-Slavica appeared in an atmosphere of tentative hope induced by the death of Stalin. Today, the content of the journal often mirrors processes caused by Russia’s regression into its totalitarian past and its ongoing war in Ukraine. Some of the articles in the current issue relate to this development, while the issue at large also demonstrates the impact of technical developments on research perspectives, making digital tools and internet resources a vital part of the study of language, literature and culture.
The linguistic section opens with an article devoted to Polish phonetic variation: Kamil Kaźmierski and Karolina Baranowska present a sociolinguistic study designed to determine the salience of five variables in Greater Poland Polish, using advanced technology and sophisticated statistic modelling. Investigations at the level of perception as well as that of production allow the authors to make some tentative predictions as to the direction of linguistic change in Greater Poland Polish.
Václav Cvrček and Masako Fidler, in their contribution, look into the Czech media landscape, examining “parasitic discourse behaviour” as a strategy used by the Czech anti-system media. A combination of quantitative methods allows the authors to reveal the latter’s imitation of mainstream media and conceptual mutation of news items over time. The results of their study, showing anti-system media’s anti-West, pro-Kremlin, and strong anti-Ukrainian stance, resonates with current events in the Czech Republic and takes on additional topicality in view of the imminent EU Parliament elections.
The section on literature covers a range of languages and topics with the common denominator of transformation. Tatjana Portnova and Roman Voitehhovitš take a close look at “Spanish motifs” in the work of Marina Cvetaeva. Tracing images and motifs associated with the mythical figures of Don Juan and Carmen, they uncover the Russian poet’s process of creative recombination of plot.
Literary retranslation is the topic of Jana Kitzlerová’s article, which discusses the preconditions and principles of a new Czech translation of the works of Vladmir Majakovskij against the background of the Czech reception history of the poet’s oeuvre. As one of the two translators involved in this enterprise, Kitzlerová is well situated to argue its case. Her contribution raises questions as to contemporary attitudes to, and handling of, Soviet-imposed translation canons elsewhere in the former Eastern Bloc.
Maciej Czerwiński’s article focuses on problems of translation, multilingualism and multiculturalism in Enzo Bettiza’s 1996 autobiography Esilio (‘Exile’) and its Croation translation. Providing a thorough contextualization of the Dalmatian author’s work, Czerwiński demonstrates how multilingualism is represented both in the source and target languages, Italian and Croatian, and what consequences this representation has for the process of mediation. As shown by Czerwiński, the linguistic and historical entanglements actualized by Bettiza’s autobiography call for a problematization of multilingualism itself.
In his contribution, Petr Vaškovic analyzes the function of “imaginary worlds” in the works of Søren Kierkegaard and Fedor Dostoevskij, respectively. Focusing on the stories of Frater Taciturnus from Stages on Life’s Way by the Danish philosopher, and General Ivolgin from Dostoevskij’s The Idiot, the author examines the “negative side of imagination” arguably coming to the fore in both works, and relates them to issues of personal and moral responsibility.
The section on culture features two articles. Joanna Kowalczyk’s contribution is devoted to stereotypical distinguishing traits of the Slavs as conveyed by Polish memes. Her analysis, focused mainly on Slavic auto-stereotypes, shows humour to be an important part of the performing of group identity on the internet. Kåre Johann Mjør’s article explores the genealogy of the idea of “Russia as the true Europe,” a popular topic in the Russian political discourse of today. Revisiting the writings of classical Slavophilism, the author sheds new light on the relationship between Slavophile thought and ideas utilized in contemporary Russian ideology production.
The issue concludes with two book reviews with a Scandinavian connection. Leonid Čekin’s critical look at Viktor Melnikov’s and Caspar Andreas Jørgensen’s En fortælling omkring Fjodor Mikhailovitj Dostojevskijs besøg i København, 1865 … [A story around Fëdor Michailovič Dostoevskij’s visit to Copenhagen in 1865 …] (BoD) once again brings up the topic of Dostoevskij and Kierkegaard in the current issue. Andrej Zorin, finally, reviews Pål Kolstø’s study Heretical Orthodoxy. Lev Tolstoy and the Russian Orthodox Church (Cambridge University Press).
April, 2024