A Concordance to the Poetry of A. S. Pushkin Prepared by G. A. Shengeli in the 1930-s

Occupation: Professor at the Russian Language Department
Affiliation: National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University
Address: Saransk, 68 Bolshevistskaya Str., Saransk, 430005, Russia

Dmitry N. Zhatkin

Occupation: Professor, Chair of the Department of the Translation and Methods of Translation
Affiliation: Penza State Technological University
Address: Russian Federation

Journal name

Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka

Edition

Volume 78 issue 3

Pages

39-51

Abstract

y A.I. Urusov, V.F. Savodnik, A.I. Sobolevsky, A.A. Shakhmatov, S.A. Vengerov, K.D. Balmont, V.Ya. Bryusov, A. Bely, and by other men of letters. The study introduces archival documents testifying to the fact that in the second half of the 1930-s G.A. Shengeli (1894–1956) prepared “Pushkin’s dictionary”, built on the principle of the poetic concordance, and was ready to publish it to mark the 100^thanniversary of Pushkin’s death. The dictionary, according to Shengeli, was «a complex of 23 separate dictionaries, each covering a separate major work (“Onegin”, “Ruslan <and Lyudmila>”, etc.) plus references to the three-partite body of Pushkin’s lyrics. Thus, <...> it is made possible to study the language of each Pushkin’s work in comparison with the language of his other work; therefore, <...> the evolution of the language in time becomes clear, as well as the language’s dependence on genres. The 23 dictionaries are cross-indexed». The manuscript of the dictionary received positive reviews of the Pushkinists and of linguists. However, Shengeli’s attempts to find a publisher for the dictionary were unsuccessful; his appeal to different research, literary, or public institutions during the years 1930–1950-s was of no avail. One of the indirect causes for such a failure to get published was the simultaneous preparation of the academic “Dictionary of Pushkin’s language” (M., 1956–1961), which covered the entire vocabulary of the classical author — both poetic and prosaic. As a result, the appearance of “Pushkin. A Concordance to the Poetry” by J.Thomas Show in the United States (1984), reprinted in Russia in 2000, was perceived — and still is being perceived — as an innovative model for studying the language and word usage of the Russian poets. Shengeli’s concordance was practically forgotten for years to come, and his manuscript, supposedly, got lost.

Keywords

A.S. Pushkin, poetry, concordance, G.A. Shengeli, J.Th. Show

Received

05.06.2019

Publication date

24.06.2019

Number of characters

36493

Cite

GOST	Vasilyev N., Zhatkin D. A Concordance to the Poetry of A. S. Pushkin Prepared by G. A. Shengeli in the 1930-s // Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka – 2019. – V. 78. – issue 3 C. 39-51 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://izv-oifn.ru/S241377150005411-5-1 (circulation date: 23.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S241377150005411-5
MLA	Vasilyev, Nikolay L, Zhatkin, Dmitry N "A Concordance to the Poetry of A. S. Pushkin Prepared by G. A. Shengeli in the 1930-s." Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 78.3 (2019):39-51. DOI: 10.31857/S241377150005411-5
APA	Vasilyev N., Zhatkin D. (2019). A Concordance to the Poetry of A. S. Pushkin Prepared by G. A. Shengeli in the 1930-s. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 78(3), pp.39-51 DOI: 10.31857/S241377150005411-5

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