N. I. Konrad: Soviet revision of western-centrism in the realms of World literature and World history

RACYN, Michal. N. I. Konrad: Soviet revision of western-centrism in the realms of World literature and World history. In NESEEES 2022 (NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia in New York City), New York, NY, USA. 2022.

Basic information

• Original name: N. I. Konrad: Soviet revision of western-centrism in the realms of World literature and World history
• Authors: RACYN, Michal.
• Edition: NESEEES 2022 (NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia in New York City), New York, NY, USA, 2022.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60101 History
• Country of publisher: United States of America
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords (in Czech): Sovětská akademie; literární teorie; světová literatura; světová historie; západocentrismus; N. I. Konrad; A. J. Toynbee
• Keywords in English: Soviet academia; Soivet literary theory; world literature; western-centrism; world history; N. I. Konrad; A. J. Toynbee
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

The present study aims to explain the revision of the western-centric approach to the concepts of World literature and World history in the works of the Soviet historian and philologist N. I. Konrad (1891–1970). The research is based on the analysis of his articles published in a period from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s and his personal correspondence with several Western and Soviet intellectuals. The main Konrad concepts analyzed in this paper were collected in the single monography titled Запад и Восток published in 1966. During the late 1960s, this publication provoked heated discussion across Soviet academia and eventually involved many eminent Soviet and Western thinkers, including British historian A. J. Toynbee (1889–1975). I argue that current reflection on Konrad’s complex historiosofic ideas could be used to better understand his contradictory relationship with the Soviet regime and his role in the broader transformation of Soviet academia in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Links

• MUNI/A/1335/2021, interní kód MU: Name: Historické epochy ve slovanských kulturách (Acronym: HESK)

Investor: Masaryk University