THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN BRITAIN.
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THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN BRITAIN. |
A historical survey of learners and teachers
by James Muckle
xii + 275 pages. Hardback. Illustrated.
ISBN 978-1-900405-15-7
Available now. Price: £24.95.
Copies are now available at a substantial discount - at a post-inclusive price of £12.95 per copy for individuals
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James Muckle's project was carried out with assistance from the British Academy. It surveys the entire history of British interest in Russia and her language and has uncovered elements of the tale which are not widely known by many workers in the field. Muckle attempts to restore to public knowledge the work of several notable pioneers and activists, and he analyses governmental involvement (and lack of it) in the introduction of Russian to the curriculum of secondary, technical/vocational and higher education, and most of all the labour of enthusiasts both inside and on the fringes of education. The summary below conveys some of the flavour of the work:
Introduction.
Chapter 1. Earliest Anglo-Russian contacts from eleventh century to 1800. The Muscovy merchants 1553 -. First interpreters and nascent Slavists. Ludolf‘s grammar; his phrasebook section never surpassed for its faithfulness to Russian conditions, 1696. Next, a century of squandered effort and neglect of the ‘barbarous Russes‘, culminating in the worst imaginable English-Russian trading glossary, 1800.
Chapter 2. 1800-1914. Early attempts to make Russian learnable for English-speakers. Pioneering work of James Heard and his grammar (1827). Army and navy interest in Russian begins 1870s, taught at staff college but mainly still ‘do-it-yourself‘: nearly 200 linguists on active service by 1914. Diplomats follow suit. Universities: modern languages (including Russian) grudgingly admitted to the curriculum. Ilchester bequest at Oxford, 1870; diplomats at Cambridge 1897. Activity of Bernard Pares, establishment of first major department, at Liverpool. Beginning of interest in Russian in vocational colleges.
Chapter 3. 1914 — Explosion of interest, consequent upon Russo-British alliance. Considerable demand in technical colleges: hundreds of teenagers enrol to train in business Russian. First ‘experiments’ with Russian in secondary schools, state and independent. More universities establish classes and departments. Support in press, business world, public. Servicemen, even prisoners of war, learn Russian. Plans for exchanges and trading contacts. Collapse of much of this when the young students and teachers were called up for military service, and when Russia experienced revolution.
Chapter 4. 1920s-30s. Leathes Report 1918: first government-commissioned document to advocate Russian in schools. After October Revolution British public opinion polarizes. Soviet Russia loved by some, loathed by others. RAF interest from 1920; army, navy, diplomatic studies continue. University non-degree classes mostly survive, reporting high attendances mainly of ’occasional’ students; Russian collapses in schools; survives weakly in vocational education. Many independent learners: grammars continue to be reprinted, friendship societies and private teachers organize tuition.
Chapter 5. Entry of USSR into II W W changes the climate. Sudden intensified interest by armed services: several courses set up; momentum here maintained for security reasons. Slow revival in secondary schools begins 1941. Foreign Office sets up a Committee on Russian, feeding into Scarbrough Report 1947. Norwood Report 1944 cautiously supportive of Russian in English schools, Thomson Report (Scotland, 1947) more cautious still..
Chapter 6. 1950s-early 60s. National Service Russian courses, based on earlier wartime ventures, train 5,000 young men to high standards, boosting supply of potential teachers, undergraduates, and creating favourable climate of opinion. Foundation of BUAS and ATR establishes focus of effort in fostering Russian, providing in-service training, teaching materials, local cells. Exponential increase in Russian in schools and universities unplanned and unstable, but inspiring to those involved. USSR begins slowly to open to students from abroad.
Chapter 7. Annan and Hayter Reports. Short-lived euphoria until it is realized that Annan did not represent government policy. HE departments reach about 50; schools teaching Russian reach 800 by 1971. School visits to Russia become possible; exchanges of all sorts develop, but never reach the freedom enjoyed by other languages. Teaching materials, often based on new technology and methods, are issued regularly. Russian for servicemen on a smaller scale and for diplomatic staff continues. However, universities experience extreme difficulty in recruiting students, and the Atkinson Report (1979) recommends widespread closures and rationalization.
Chapter 8. 1980 to the turn of century. School pupils maintained at reasonable level in England to early 1990s. University ‘rationalisation’ brings about sharp decline in number of departments, but leads to consolidation of effort. Momentous events in Russia stimulate interest for a while. University research in non-literary Russian studies flourishes. BUAS and NASEES amalgamate; ATR disbands to enter ALL. By 2000 Russian virtually disappears from schools in Wales, Ireland and Scotland, survives in England, though very recently signs of a renaissance in Ireland are noted. Presence of immigrant Russian families introduces new element: ‘heritage’ Russian and supplementary schools. Strength is discerned in adult education and FE, less in numbers than in enthusiasm. Teaching materials continue to be published and bought.
Chapter 9. The present and future of Russian. 2007 as ‘Russian Language Year’. Where is Russian, now? What features of the issue of Russian in the curriculum of schools and HE need to be considered? Was case for Russian adequately made? How difficult a language is it? Was teacher supply adequate? Were teachers good enough to carry it off? What is it about education systems of British Isles that makes curricular innovation so tricky an issue? Was/is there support from outside the Russian-teaching profession? Could Russian experience a revival in future? Not all of these questions are fully answered!
Illustrations (8 pages); extensive Bibliographies and Index
Reviewers write:
'I hope everyone in the UK who has tried seriously to learn and/or teach Russian will read this fascinating monograph.' [An] 'excellent and groundbreaking volume'. Martin Dewhirst, writing in East-West Review, Summer 2009
'This is a campaigning book... Muckle castigates British blindness to the need for language and knowledge of Russia... [There are] many intriguing and appealing stories about people who studied Russian and their fates...' Andrew Jameson, writing in SCRSS Information Digest, Winter 2008
| SLAVIANSKII MIR. The Story of Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham in the Twentieth Century |
by Malcolm V. Jones
ISBN 978-1-900405-16-4
The book follows the fortunes of Russian and other Slavonic courses at Nottingham from their modest beginnings during the First World War, through the colourful and eccentric career of Janko Lavrin (who ran Slavonic Studies at Nottingham from 1918 to 1952, and saw the move from the University College in Shakespeare Street to the Trent Building on the Highfields Campus), to the evolution of the department in the post-war years, following the granting of the University’s Royal Charter in 1948.
Under John Fennell, the foundations of a modern department were laid, to be consolidated under Frank Seeley until, in 1967, Monica Partridge became head of department, expanding the Yugoslav base and seeing the department through some difficult and tumultuous years. From 1980, when Malcolm Jones became head of department himself, there was a change of gear as the Soviet period drew to an end, the department established itself as a centre of excellence in teaching and research, University courses were modularised, and the department as we know it today began to take shape. The century concluded under the leadership of Peter Herrity.
The author, Malcolm Jones came to Nottingham as an undergraduate in 1958, 50 years ago this year, and has known all but one of the permanent lecturing staff of the department since Russian was established in 1915. His own experience, together with input from 60 former and current staff and students, adds an attractive personal touch to the story.
To obtain a copy of Slavianskii mir for £10.00, send a cheque made out to 'Bramcote Press' at out address (see home page).
| Post-School Education and the Transition from State Socialism |
edited by James Muckle and W John Morgan
2001, 238 pages, hardback, index, ISBN 1 85041 093 3, price now reduced to £15.95/$29.95
The book examines the effect of the transition from State Socialism in post-compulsory education in a number of countries world wide: Russia, China, Tibet, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Bulgaria and Cuba. Some chapters are by nationals of the country concerned, others by outside observers, all with practical experience in the system under consideration. It is believed that these perspectives together provide a useful contribution both to the historical debate on the State Socialist experience and to the discussion of the complex and uneven process of transition 'back from the future', a future that did not in the end prove to work.
Reviewers write:
'This is an interesting book, indicative of the complexities of transition from state socialism to a new order of things and of the search for new solutions to the perennial problem of harmoniously synchronizing political, social and economic and educational change.' Slavonic and East European Review.
'If the goal of transition is democracy, then we need to see the educational system within a much broader social setting...[This volume] certainly provide[s] a great deal of material which makes that social, political and economic context visible.' Compare.
'The book is full of useful and varied material from a variety of authors, and a very interesting and enlightening portrayal of the way in which each country has coped with this difficult period of transition.' Education in Russia, the Independent States and Eastern Europe.
FROM MOSCOW. Living and teaching among the Russians in the 1990s
by Dora O'Brien.
For full information and extracts from reviews, click: Russian memoirs series
| Traditions in New Freedom. Christianity and Higher Education in Russia and Ukraine Today |
by Jonathan Sutton
1996, 128 pages, illustrated, hardback, bibliography, index, ISBN 978-0-9517853-7-9, price £13.95/$24.95
After seventy years of restrictions and of hostility towards the cause of religion, the Orthodox Church and other churches in the former Soviet Union are faced with the problem of how to make religion accessible to students in higher education in general and to young men training for the priesthood in the new society. Can people be taught to assess religious values and interpretations of our world and their impact upon us? Will religion be confined to a marginal role in a predominantly secular society, or can teaching make a difference? The author visited nearly fifty teaching institutions in Russia and Ukraine in 1993 and 1994 while considering these and related questions. It is clear that the establishment and development of the subject will occupy university teachers of theology and religious studies for years to come. This book shows an early and important stage in this process.
A few copies remain.
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