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Article
Biography as Archive: Writing the Lives of Scholars in Imperial Russia
Slavonic and East European Review (2018)
  • Nathaniel Knight, Seton Hall University
Abstract
This article examines biographies of scholars as a particular genre of biographical writing in imperial Russia. Taking as its starting point Nikolai Barsukov's monumental biography of Mikhail Pogodin, the article draws on a sample of biographies of scholars active in the fields of history, oriental studies, statistics, philosophy and literary criticism, and analyses them from the perspective of narrative structure, use of sources, views of the individual and critical perspective. What distinguishes these works, above and beyond a heavy reliance on direct quotation and a weakly expressed authorial voice, is the role they played in the articulation of disciplinary identity.
Publication Date
January, 2018
DOI
10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.96.1.0016
Citation Information
Nathaniel Knight. "Biography as Archive: Writing the Lives of Scholars in Imperial Russia" Slavonic and East European Review Vol. 96 Iss. 1 (2018) p. 16 - 40 ISSN: 2222-4327
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nathaniel-knight/29/