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Russian Association for the English Studies INFORMATION
Russian Association for the English Studies is a professional, non-profit and non-political organization which was founded in 1995. The impediments on its way to Europe were of an internal nature. By the time when the first steps were to be taken to enter ESSE there exist three Russian associations working in the field and ready to represent the country. But the ESSE principle is √ one country one member. Before we could join the rest of Europe we had to unite within Russia. It took us almost two years to bring about.
The Constitution has been written, discussed and agreed on by the representatives of the three Russian associations which made up the Russian Association of English Studies (RAES), each of them functioning onwards as a member organisation with its special interest in language, literature or cultural studies.
The backbone of the organization was formed by two large centres on of them founded in 1991 on the initiative of the honorary professor and a distinguished scientist of Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPSU) Nina P. Mikhalskaya. This was possible owing to systematic professional work during many years held at the World Literature Department of MPSU. The second centre was based at Moscow State University under the guidance of Prof. Ter-Minasova. Its activities today are connected with regions studies, peculiarities of cultural and linguistic fields in many regions of Russia and Great Britain.
The first President of RAES who did his best to bring it to ESSE was prof. Igor Shaitanov. At Moscow conference in 1996 Helmut Bonheim presented. The President of RAES since that time is Elena Chernozyomova.
The Constitution was submitted at the ESSE Board meeting in Sheffield (UK, September 1996) for the official admittance of Russia. By the unanimous vote RAES was allowed to become a full right member of the European community. From now on we are bound to have all the opportunities and to meet all the responsibilities that our membership entails.
At the beginning of the 1990-s hundreds of those who work in the field of English studies in Russia received The European English Messenger, the newsletter of the European Society for the Study of English. We were allowed to enjoy this privilege notwithstanding the fact that Russia was among those very few European countries that still stayed away from ESSE. We were generously advanced by our colleagues who expected Russian teachers of English on the tertiary level, both of language and literature, to prove willing to co-operate in disseminating information and views about English Studies in Europe and in fostering intellectual and scholarly development. These are the primary objectives of ESSE.
The first thing we had to do then was to update the membership lists presented by each of the three member-organisations. They were passed on to the ESSE database to ensure a timely receiving of all the information concerning diverse activities, including conferences and grants, and The Messenger. Our first membership lists had about 300 names of members from all over Russia.
Since the beginning of the 1990-s the Association has close contact with Oxford University due to selfless activity of the coordinator of Russian and English scientific and cultural relations Prof. Karen Hewett. More than twenty times Karen have been to Russia and she got acquainted with different university specialists. With her active assistance more than fifty members of the Association have bee to England taking part in seminars, meeting different scientists, writers, poets and translators. Some books written by Karen Hewett were printed at the publishing house of Nizhegorodsky Linguistic University. These books aim to help Russians overcome existing stereotypes of English culture, literature and traditions. A centre for studying Victorian culture with a library of one thousand books was founded in Perm with the help of Oxford. Since 2005 annual seminars on modern English novel are held there. Specialists from different universities take part in them.
Since 1995 the Association issues its own almanac where it publishes works showing new approaches to linguistics, some rare materials, reviews of critical literature dissertation research and information about the Association activity. By the year 2008 ten issues have been published that are devoted to the problems of studying of the creative work of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, poetry of the 17th century and the problems of genre word, works of John Donne and the problems of metaphysical style, English and Russian literary connections, problems of literature and painting.
Conferences
Since 1991 teachers of English Literature gather at annual conferences held in different Russian cities. During these years the members of the association have been to Smolensk, Oryol, Perm, Kirov, Ufa, Voronezh, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Veliky Novgorod, Ryazan, Minsk. The conference of the Pushkin▓s anniversary 1999 year took place in Pushkinskie Gory.
The 11th conference took place in Tambov and was devoted to problems of literary success, its correlation with mass character and popularity. The 12th conference was held in Minsk Linguistic University together with Belarusian Association for American Studies. The theme of this conference was introspection of the Old and New Worlds of each other. The manager of the conference was prof. Stulov.
Four times the conference was held in Moscow. Except the constituent conference in 1991 it was the conference pf 1993 taking place together with linguists from Moscow State. The ESSE President Helmut Bohnheim participated in it. The Association has special creative relations with the professor of Foreign Literature Department of MSU, doctor of philological sciences N. A. Soloviyova who has trained many specialists in English literature and has been taking an active part in all scientific conferences held by the Association and many activities of regional centres as well as some international conferences of anglicists in Debretsin, Helsinki, Strasburg, Warsaw, Lodzi.
In September 2003 the 13th conference took place in Literature Institute of A. M. Gorky. The subject was the problems of creative mastering the reality in British literature. The 14th conference was held traditionally in the third week of September in 2004 in Samara on the problem of comparative studies, modern theory and practice. The 15th conference was held in Ryazan in Ryazan State Pedagogical University, professor V. G. Reshetov being the manager. The subject of the next conference was the eternal images in literature of Great Britain and Russia. The 18th international conference devoted to the problem of Russian and foreign reader and national perception of literature took place in Literature Institute of A. M. Gorky. The 19th conference ⌠Genre and its modifications in the literature of Britain and Russia■ was held in Vladimir State University of Humanities at the October 2009 by the conducting of professor O.I. Polovinkina.
At the beginning of June 2009 it was the seminar ⌠Byron and the Russia of Pushkin time■ in Pushkinskie Gory, it was held together with American society of Byron studies and English society of Pushkin studies.
Region centers
During the years of activity regional centers of RAES were formed in Astrakhan, Voronezh, Kazan, Perm, Krasnoyarsk. All of them help specialists with information on problems of English Studies and preparing of specialists and on studying new tendencies in philology as well.
The most remote Krasnoyarsk centre is headed by professor M. I. Voropanova, the chief of the Foreign Literature Department in Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University. During many years she has been holding Shakespeare and Pushkin seminars for students, post-graduate students and specialists in literature studies. This centre issues a collection of proceedings giving opportunity of publication to many specialists in the region.
In Perm with the help of the coordinator of Russian and British cultural relations Karen Hewitt and on the initiative of professor B. M. Proskurnin a centre for studying Victorian culture was founded. At Perm University they gathered about a thousand volumes of literary works and critical works showing peculiarity of Victorian age. The specialists of the region actively use this library.
Institute of Humanitarian Research at Tambov State University of G. R. Derzhavin was the initiator of foundation of Russian House of Dickens. Teachers and students of the university gathered hundreds of volumes of works of the classic in English and Russian as well as critical writing on his creative work, epoch and way of life. The teachers of different specialities (philologists, historians, linguists) made their contribution to the foundation and development of the centre giving to the disposal of guests the available literature as well as the materials of their own research. Besides working with literature the Russian House of Dickens gives opportunity of taking part in literary evenings and meetings, celebrating Christmas according to English tradition necessary to feel the peculiarities and colouring of the epoch. The leader of the House is professor N. L. Potanina, a doctor of philological sciences.
The work of Voronezh centre of the Association is especially interesting and efficient. The members of the centre are highly-qualified specialists of Foreign Literature Department of Voronezh State Pedagogical University among whom we can especially mention professor S. N. Filyushkina, a doctor of philological sciences, and professor M. K. Popova, a doctor of philological sciences too. They unite both teachers from Voronezh University and colleagues from Central Chernozem Area √ Tambov and Orel. The Voronezh members were the initiators of conducting summer and winter sessions for young specialists of the region during which post-graduate students, young teachers and researchers have a opportunity to attend lectures and get consultations of leading specialists and scientists. Permanent participants of these meetings are specialists from Orel √ a translator and connoisseur of Shelley poetry I. G. Gusmanov and an author of many textbook on foreign literature E. S. Pankova. One of the most active and prominent members of Voronezh centre is Professor M. K. Popova, a specialist in the Middle Ages in England, a member of the organizational committee of International scientific conferences on questions of national identity and problems of understanding in a dialogue which created a common cultural space for communication of specialists of different spheres, namely ethno- and psycholinguists, historians, philologists, historians of religion, ethnologists. M. K. Popova is connected with Polish National Association for English studies and takes an active part in their conferences, meetings and seminars. Together with her colleagues she attends seminars on Irish poetry in Dublin.
The Almanac ANGLISTICA
A N G L I S T I C A is an academic journal on literature and culture of Great Britain published twice a year on behalf of the Russian Association for English Studies. The decision for its publication was taken at the first Conference of the teachers of English Literature held in Moscow in October 1991. Since 1995 the Association issues its own almanac where it publishes works showing new approaches to linguistics, some rare materials, reviews of critical literature, dissertation research and information about the Association activity.
Initially, the issues of AnglistiЯa were to grow out of papers given at each conference respectively. However, this initial plan was altered to devote certain issues to special periods or case studies. The journal is divided into sections, namely: Theoretical Tribune, History of Literature, Viewpoint, Workshop, Review, Panorama of Arts, Portrait against the Historical Background, Studies in Class, Information, the number and choice of sections varying from issue to issue.
The journal is of an informative nature; its objective being to show what has already been done in the field and what the perspectives of research are. Analytical reviews, bibliography, information on dissertations is provided for the professional reader to promote the study of English culture and foster research in English literature. By the year 2008 ten issues have been published that are devoted to the problems of studying of the creative work of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, poetry of the 17th century and the problems of genre word, works of John Donne and the problems of metaphysical style, English and Russian literary connections, problems of literature and painting.
The first issue (1996) contains essays on William Shakespeare. It opens with a theoretical article by Igor. O. Shaitanov, demonstrating English and Russian genre approaches applied to the study of Shakespeare. The contribution of Elena. N. Chernozyomova is concerned with the problem of how characters function in various generic forms of the English Renaissance drama. Elena.V. Kharitonova concentrates on the dramatic function of metaphor in Hamlet. The collection is closed with the problem of authorship raised by Sergey M. Mezenin who in "Another Shakespeare Text?" questions the poem "To Die". Though the scholar is inclined to recognize Shakespeare''s authorship, the problem remains a controversial issue.
The case study in "ANGLISTICA #2" is depicting of childhood in English Literature. The opening article by Michael I. Sverdlov focuses on the concept of a child as it had been developed from the Middle Ages through Renaissance up to the poetic discovery of childhood by English romanticists. The article contributed by Nina M. Demurova, known to the Russian reader as the translator of Alice, discusses the existing attitudes to English Literature for Children and lays particular emphasis on how it is to be viewed in the literary evolution. The paper by Katerina Y. Dianova is on the "public school story" genre in the context of the mid-19th century prose about childhood represented here by Thomas Hughes▓ Tom Brown''s Schooldays. O.O. Korotayeva dwells on the functions of children''s images in works of Shakespeare and Dickens.
There is also a block of medieval studies. The article by Marina I. Nikola goes back to the Middle Ages to update the concept of English Gothic through architecture and stained glass. Mariya K. Popova reviews the recent perception of Medieval allegory.
The case study in the third issue (June, 1996) is English literature of the 18th century. Natalya A. Solovyova draws attention to the leading Russian researchers in the field and their major works. This review is accompanied by the selected bibliography compiled by Vladimir N. Ganin of the Russian studies on 18th-century English literature published between 1985 and 1991. Aleksandr
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