Old and new authorities of classical philology in Russia in 1830–40s
Abstract
The article focuses on the reconstruction of the role of ministerial offi cials, university professors and journal reviewers in the mechanism of (trans)formation of the hierarchy of authorities in classical philology, i.e. authors of Latin textbooks in Russia in the 1830–40s. The research methodology is based on a combination of traditional historical methods, as well as approaches developed in the framework of the history of science, the history of disciplines and the sociology of literature. The Charter of gymnasiums, district and parish schools (1828) established the standards of teaching ancient languages and provided a list of textbooks recommended for gymnasiums; these were adaptations of the grammars of the German classical philologists C. G. Broeder, F. Doering, K. Zumpt. The reform provoked the publication of dictionaries, grammars and anthologies by language teachers of diff erent levels (from priests to professors). These were not only translations and adaptations of textbooks by European classical philologists, but also textbooks based on original methodological principles. The published books were discussed in thick journals (Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, Otechestvennye zapiski, Moskvityanin). The reviewers were most often young graduates of history and philology departments of universities, who were working on their master’s theses. The journals were a public platform for the emerging community to evaluate ministry-certifi ed textbooks. In these discussions, opinions were formed as to the norms of the discipline, the fi gure of the classical philologist, the new trendsetters.
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