Contenu du sommaire

Leonid Heller, A journey into the land of anarchy : the road of Utopia. In this essay, we deal with what we call the "anarchist component" of Russian modernism. At first, we discuss the fascination of a large number of prominent modernist artists, — Western and Russian as well — , for the issues that have been put forward by the anarchist thought. This fascination was favored in Russia by the secular domestic tradition. Then we show that the avant-garde of the 1910"s-1920's was initially attracted and made its contribution to the anarchist ideology and structures (such as press). The instances of Khlebnikov and Rodchenko illustrate this point. The second part of the essay outlines the Utopian and polemic writings of the notorious anarchist activists of the revolutionary era, the Gordin brothers. We point out the numerous relations that seem to exist between the Gordins' work and the modernist attitude toward the world, art, and politics. A brief comment on several other anarchist writers closes this attempt to delimitate our object of investigation for a future and more thorough treatment.

Hakan Kirimu, The Crimean Tatar nationalist organization "Conscience " : Fact or police invention? It is known that during the early 1910's there was a remarkable degree of underground nationalistic activities among the Crimean Tatars, some of which were connected with the "Fatherland Society" which had been founded by the Crimean Tatar students in Turkey. The recently disclosed documents in the archives of the tsarist police attribute most of such activities in 1910 to a certain Crimean Tatar nationalist organization called "Conscience Society." Though as yet no other authentic source corroborates this information, these documents present the characteristic outlook and behavior of the tsarist police toward any nationalistically-colored stir among the Crimean Tatars.

Marie-Rose Belgodere, Social transformations and transition in Russia: "intelligentsias" and employment, 1988-1994. This paper, which examines the job behaviors of the "professionnels" since the 1970's, uses data from the Sociological Institute of the USSR/Russian Federation Academy of Sciences, interviews conducted by the VCIOM, national statistical data and the press. The turning point in employment was seen in 1988 with the adoption of legislation authorizing the first non-state employers since the NEP. In the result three types of behavior are preliminary distinguished: limited protest behaviors, dominant waiting behaviors and significant mobility behaviors, occurring on a small scale with respect to generalized economic depression. These types of behavior are in line with previously observed strategies and expectations, particularly among youth.

Gavriel Shapiro, Lolita class list. The article examines "that class list" in Lolita which Nabokov considered among "the nerves of the novel." Careful study of the list corroborates this authorial assertion: Lolita 's classmates frequently emerge in the course of the narrative, and their rather conventional lives of American youngsters shed contrasting light on the tragic fate of the little heroine. On another plane, the class list contains a plethora of cultural allusions, literary first and foremost. The role of these allusions is twofold: some serve as commentary to the novel, enhancing the reader's understanding of its characters and situations; others reflect Nabokov's literary tastes and extraliterary interests and refer to his own works and life circumstances.

Laurence Aubain, Russia at the 1889 World Fair. The participation of Russia in the World Fair which was held in Paris in 1889 foreshadows the rapprochement between France and Russia before the 1891 alliance. Given the fact that it was not formally sponsored by the tsar, the Russian display, therefore deprived of financial support, was not as glamorous as expected. It gives the picture of an everlasting Russia, wrapped in mystery, in spite of its established industrial potentiality. However, it partakes of the vision of the World Fair as a mixture of optimism, industrialism, paternalism, i.e. Saint-Simonism. Eventually there seems to be no discrepancy between what Russia was and what it displayed — that will not be the case as far as the 1900 World Fair is concerned.