SRG MEMBER DONNA ORWIN, Editor of Tolstoy Studies Journal, mounted an exhibit at the University of Toronto's Robarts Library under the title Tolstoy and the arts, as well as a special celebration on 2 November, featuring a talk by Vladimir Il'ich Tolstoy (great-great-grandson of the famous writer). For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page. [Sept. 2004]
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ON THURSDAY 20 MAY IGOR' SOLDATENKOV, a well-known Russian artist, launched a five-day exhibit of his works at a vernissage at Centre Jacques-Auger in Gatineau (Québec), part of the National Capital Region, sponsored in part by the Slavic Research Group.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.   [Sept. 2004]
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THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO CANADA, Dr Georgiy Mamedov, gave a lecture at the University of Ottawa on Thursday 5 February 2004, sponsored jointly by the Slavic Research Group and the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures, on "Russian-Canadian relations".  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.   [Feb. 2004]
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DR LIDIJA GROMOVA-OPUL'SKAJA (1925-2003), an honorary member of the Slavic Research Group, passed away in Moscow 31 December 2003, in her seventy-ninth year.  She collaborated extensively with our Group on a number of publications and will be sorely missed.  Please visit our tribute page to her memory.  [Jan 2004]
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DR ANDREW DONSKOV, Director of the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, recently became the sixth recipient of University of Ottawaís Distinguished University Professor Award, established in 1999.  The award recognises exceptional scholarly achievement and internationally acclaimed contributions to a particular academic discipline.  Donskov has welcomed the reception of the Distinguished University Professor award most enthusiastically.  He notes that the funds accompanying the award will be well spent on the completion of several projects in Canadian Slavic studies currently underway, including his ongoing examination of Tolstoy and the Canadian Doukhobors.  [Jan 2004]
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ON 26OCTOBER 2003 the noted Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi delivered a public lecture entitled "Political and mental transformation in Post-communist Poland".  The lecture was organised in co-operation with the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada. [More information to come.]

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA'S VICE-RECTOR ACADEMIC Dr Robert Major, along with SRG Director Andrew Donskov, visited Moscow and St-Petersburg in September 2003 to sign memoranda of agreement with Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and the University of St-Petersburg's Canada College.  Dr Major also presented a lecture on the images of the St-Lawrence River in Canadian literature.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 2003 three international conferences were held in Russia to mark the 175th anniversary of the birth of Leo Tolstoy.  One of the co-organisers of the event was SRG external member Donna Orwin of the University of Toronto, who gave a master class on Tolstoy's legacy in the print media.  SRG Administrative Assistant & Research Associate John Woodsworth also participated and presented a paper.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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FOLLOWING THE SUCCESSFUL PUBLICATION in 2000 of the last two years (1894-1896) of the Tolstoy-Strakhov correspondence, the SRG (toether with the correspondence between Strakhov and Tolstoy's wife Sofia Andreevna), in conjunction with the L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, has published a landmark two-volume edition of the complete correspondence between Leo Tolstoy and his editorial associate, philosopher and friend, Nikolaj Strakhov, under the title  L.N. Tolstoy--N.N. Strakhov: Polnoe sobranie perepiski / Leo Tolstoy and Nikolaj Strakhov: Complete correspondence. Like its predecessor, this publication, comprising 467 letters (1870-96) between the two men,  was edited by SRG Director Andrew Donskov and compiled by L. D. Gromova of the Russian Academy of Sciences T. G. Nikiforova of the State L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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A NEW ELECTRONIC GUIDE -- Canadian Doukhobors on the web: an annotated guide -- has been prepared by SRG Administrative Assistant John Woodsworth at the request of the Institute of Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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WE TAKE PLEASURE in welcoming two new external members to our Slavic Research Group: Dr Marina Shcherbakova of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Literature in Moscow and Dr Henryk Duda of the Catholic University of Lublin (Poland).    Please see our Members' page for further details.
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IT IS WITH GREAT PRIDE that we advise you of SRG Director Andrew Donskov's recent election as Full Member of the Petrovskaja Academy of Arts & Sciences (Petri Primi Academia scientiarum et artium) in St-Petersburg.  He is the first Canadian scholar to receive this honour.
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WE ARE PLEASED to announce that the Department of Linguistics of the University of Ottawa is organising a colloquium on Formal approaches to Slavic linguistics, to be held at the University of Ottawa 9-11 May 2003.  Featured as invited speakers will be Robert D. Borsley (Univ. of Essex), John F. Bailyn (State University of New York at Stony Brook) and Helen Goodluck (University of Ottawa).  Please click on the conference title above for further information.
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SRG'S NEWEST PUBLICATION -- Volume 5 in the Tolstoy Series -- is just off the press: Edinenie ljudej v tvorchestve L.N. Tolstogo / The Unity of people in Leo Tolstoy's works -- co-authored by the Slavic Research Group's Andrew Donskov, Galina Galagan of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Russian Literature in St-Petersburg and Lidija Gromova of its Institute of World Literature in Moscow, and co-published by the three institutions named.  The volume presents a rare glimpse into Tolstoyís own draft variants of his works of fiction, treatises and articles -- variants hitherto unpublished.  The key passages selected for publication here offer characteristic examples of the great writer's reflections on the paths to unity among people.  First-hand research of original manuscripts has also yielded detailed annotations along with two critical essays (presented in both Russian and English) on this vital concept which permeates nearly all Tolstoy's writings. 

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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IN JUNE 1999 the Institute of Polish Philology of the Catholic University of Lublin and the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa organised a joint conference at the Polish university devoted to literary translation.  The Proceedings of two subsequent conferences in 2000 and 2001 have now been published in Volume II of our Polish Translation Series, entitled Warzsztaty translatorskie II / Translation workshop II.  The volume is edited by Richard Sokoloski, Henryk Duda and Jacek Scholz.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THIS NEW PAGE BEGINS with news of a major international Slovak conference recently held at the University of Ottawa, organised by M. Mark Stolarik, a member of the Slavic Research Group.  For further details, please go the Slovak Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS various members of the Slavic Research Group have presented conference papers, chaired academic panels and given talks (causeries) in a number of locations in Eastern Canada.  There is also a report of a Festschrift publication of a paper by one of our members originally presented at the University of Victoria, and selection of another of his papers originally given at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.  Another member, a recognised Polish scholar, took an active part at an international conference in Budapest last year.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page and our Polish Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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AS RECENTLY APPOINTED Foreign Co-Secretary of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of the Humanities and Social Sciences) and Co-Chair of its International Relations Committee), SRG Director Andrew Donskov, is currently seeking to strengthen existing ties and establish new liaisons between the RSC and corresponding institutions abroad, including Slavic-speaking countries.  He will be grateful for any input from scholars in these countries as well as from Slavists in Canada.
   For news of an international appointment recently bestowed on another of our members, please see the Russian Happenings page.
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THE SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP is pleased to announce its initiative of a Cultural Dictionary of Canada in Russian, which will comprise the first volume of a Cultural Dictionary of Canada Series under the aegis of the Institute of Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa.  We have already secured the collaboration of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), one of whose senior scholars, Liudmila Vedenina, will serve as co-editor with SRG's John Woodsworth and a French-speaking editor to be determined, under the overall directorship of Andrew Donskov.  Input will also come from Carleton University's Centre for Research on Canadian-Russian Relations.  With the endorsement of the Faculty of Arts, the University of Ottawa's central administration, the Royal Society of Canada, Canada's Ambassador to Moscow and the Russian Embassy in Canada, we are currently seeking multi-year funding for this project, which we hope to have completed by 2006.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.

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SRG MEMBER RICHARD SOKOLOSKI was recently appointed a member of Towarzystwo Naukowe (Learned Society) of the Catholic University of Lublin.  During a recent sabbatical leave Dr Sokoloski delivered two papers in Poland on the sonnets of Sep-Szarynski.  He also authored an entry on Tadeusz Rózewicz in the recently published Dictionary of literary biography: East European writers.  For details please our Polish Happenings page.

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IN APRIL 2002 SRG Administrative Assistant John Woodsworth was invited to join the Editorial Board (redkollegija) of the historico-cultural almanac Razmyshlenija o Kanade (Reflections on Canada/Réflexions sur le Canada), published by the Canadian History Group of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of General History (Institut vseobshchej istorii), under the editorship of Vadim Koleneko.  For further details, please see our Russian Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM entitled Four centuries of the Polish presence in Canada is being organised at the University of Ottawa in the autumn of 2003, with the participation of Richard Sokoloski and the Slavic Research Group.  For details please our Polish Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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ON 12 FEBRUARY 2002 a new lecture series was launched by Polish Ambassador Pawel Dobrowolski at the University of Ottawa, under the joint sponsorship of the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures at the University of Ottawa as well as the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences in Canada and the Polish Embassy, with the support of the Slavic Research Group.  For details please our Polish Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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AT THE BEGINNING OF 2002 the Director of the Slavic Research Group, Andrew Donskov, took up new duties as a member of the Council (serving as Foreign Co-Secretary) of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of the Humanities and Social Sciences), to which he was elected as a Fellow last year (see below).  At the same time Dr Donskov was also named Co-Chair of the Society's International Relations Committee.
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NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE LIFE AND ART of Leo Tolstoy are constantly coming to the fore as more and more documents are dusted off from their archival hibernation and brought under the spotlight of the world's Tolstoyan scholarship.  Nikolaj Nikolaevich Gusev managed to collect, over his lifetime, a vast archive of memoirs and reminiscences by people who, like him, had known the great writer personally.  Gusev himself served as Tolstoy's personal secretary from 1907 to 1909, when he was arrested right at Yasnaya Polyana and sent off to exile in Korepino in Western Siberia.  His 45 known letters to Tolstoy, most of them written from exile, are presented here in print for the first time, along with eight selected reminiscences from his archive, to make up the eleventh publication of the Slavic Research Group.  The documents were compiled by Lidija Gromova of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Z. N. Ivanova of the L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, and are accompanied by a critical introduction in English by editor Andrew Donskov.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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ON THURSDAY 18 OCTOBER 2001 the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, David Staines, hosted a book launch and reception to mark the first three years of the existence of the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, as well as our ten publications to date.  This event was attended by over a hundred people, including a number of the Slavic ambassadors in Ottawa along with their staff, representatives of the central university administration, faculty, staff and students, and members of the general public.  Copies of all our books were available for examination and for sale, and illustrated descriptions of our publications and activities, including reviews of our books in a number of academic journals, were posted on a large display stand.  A summary of our publications and activities was also available on a hand-out sheet.  Remarks appropriate to the occasion were contributed by Dean Staines, the new University of Ottawa Rector Gilles Patry, SRG Director Andrew Donskov and  Administrative Assistant John Woodsworth.  The event was held in the café Le Rendez-Vous in the University Centre and light refreshments were served.
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ON 20 SEPTEMBER 2001 Dr Anna Biolik, external member of the Slavic Research Group, took up her duties as Consul-General for Canada at St-Petersburg in Russia.  We congratulate her on her new appointment and wish her every success.
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IN AUGUST OF 2001 it was announced that the Director of the Slavic Research Group, Andrew Donskov, was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of the Humanities and Social Sciences).  The citation reads in part: "His meticulous research on Tolstoy's drama and the perception of the Russian peasantry (especially religious dissidents) on the part of Tolstoy and other nineteenth-century Russian writers challenged prevailing critical opinion.  His ongoing work on Tolstoy's epistolary legacy and his publication of hitherto unpublished archival materials has likewise been met with worldwide acclaim."  The induction ceremony will take place in November on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
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IN MAY 2001 a delegation of four, headed by Robert Major, then Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Arts (now Vice-Rector Academic, University of Ottawa), travelled to Russia to sign, on behalf of the University of Ottawa and its Slavic Research Group, agreements of academic co-operation with a number of Russian scholarly institutions and give lectures not only on Tolstoy but also on French-Canadian literature.  For further details, including photos of the trip, see our Russian Happenings page.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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IN JUNE 1999 the Institute of Polish Philology of the Catholic University of Lublin and the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa organised a joint conference at the Polish university devoted to literary, translation.  Volume I of a new Polish Translation Series, entitled Warzsztaty translatorskie I / Translation workshop I, presents selected papers from a five-day comprehensive Workshop on poetic translation, with sample translations in English and Russian.  The volume is edited by Richard Sokoloski and Henryk Duda.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THE LONG-AWAITED ENGLISH TRANSLATION of the correspondence between Leo Tolstoy and Molokan peasant philosopher Fedor Zheltov (L. N. Tolstoj i F. A. Zheltov: Perepiska,published in 1999 by the SRG and the L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow) is finally off the presses.  Translated by John Woodsworth and edited by American Molokan specialist Ethel Dunn, the volume is a joint publication of Highgate Road Social Science Research Station in Berkeley (California), USA and the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa.
It comprises 37 letters from Fedor Zheltov to Leo Tolstoy plus 14 letters from Tolstoy to Zheltov, all written between 1887 and 1909.
   Copies may be ordered from the American co-publisher (see the information page for details).

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THE SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP is pleased to announce the publication of a new memoir by Feliks Przylubski entitled Wspomnienie o Januszu Rózewiczu / Janusz Rózewicz: a reminiscence.  This volume, translated and edited and with a critical introduction by Richard Sokoloski, traces the story of the elder brother of Tadeusz and Stanislaw Rózewicz (who are a world-renowned writer and prominent film-maker, respectively).  Janusz, an aspiring poet, perished tragically during the Second World War; some of his poems are reproduced in the memoir.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THE SRG PLANS TO ISSUE Volume I in a series of Occasional Papers in the autumn of 2001, comprising scholarly articles by a number of SRG members.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THE SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP's research, conferencing and publishing activities over the two-and-a-half years of its existence have been very favourably received by both the Faculty of Arts and the central administration of the University of Ottawa.  Gilles Patry (Vice-Rector Academic) and Robert Major (Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Arts) have been particularly supportive of our efforts.  One manifestation of this recognition is the recent change in title accorded Andrew Donskov, from Co-ordinator to Director of the SRG.
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ON 27 MARCH 2001 the SRG was represented at a ceremony at the Polish Embassy in honour of the fourth annual book awards to Polish language students at the University of Ottawa.  For further details please see our Polish Happenings page.

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ON 28 March 2001 the Russian Embassy in Canada, with the collaboration of the SRG, hosted the second annual Ambassadorís Book Prize awards for students at the University of Ottawa who have shown exceptional progress in their study of the Russian language.  At the invitation of the Embassy, the students presented a brief programme of Russian readings and songs.  For further details please see our Russian Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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THE SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP recently published a collection of essays on the work of Russia's national poet.  The book, by SRG member J. Douglas Clayton, is entitled Wave and Stone: Essays on the poetry and prose of Alexander Pushkin.  Read together, the essays trace the evolution of Pushkin's muse from his Lyceum days to 1830 and offer fresh insights into the creative process of Russia's most famous poet.  They include commentaries on a number of aspects of Eugene Onegin, as well as The Tales of Belkin and Pushkin's association with the burlesque tradition.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THE LONG-AWAITED VOLUME of Leo and Sofia Tolstoy's correspondence with their close friend and long-time editorial assistant, philosopher and literary critic Nikolaj Strakhov was published by the Slavic Research Group in June 2000.  Edited and with a critical introduction by Andrew Donskov, this is a co-publication with the State L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow. Part I comprises 38 letters between Strakhov and Leo Tolstoy from the final two years of Strakhov's life (1894-96), most of them appearing in print for the first time.  Part II presents the entire extant correspondence between Strakhov and Sofia Tolstoy from 1872 to 1895.  The letters were compiled by L.D. Gromova, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and T.G. Nikiforova of the Moscow L.N. Tolstoy Museum.  English summaries are provided for all letters.  The volume is published under the title: L.N. Tolstoj i S.A. Tolstaja: perepiska / The Tolstoys' correspondence with N.N. Strakhov.

To see a list of all our publications, click here.
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THE SRG, in conjunction with the Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski (KUL) is about to publish the Proceedings of a translators' symposium held at Lublin, Poland in June 1999.  For further details please see our Polish Happenings page.

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SRG ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT John Woodsworth is not only a translator of prose and poetry, but has also been writing his own poems in Russian over the past ten years, which have appeared in both print and Internet publications.  For further details please see our Russian Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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AN EXHIBITION of 32 panels celebrating the 75th anniversary of the death of Polish Nobel-prize winning writer Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont (1867-1925) was held at the University of Ottawa 21 November--3 December 2000.  The exhibition was prepared by the Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature in Warsaw and co-sponsored by the SRG, the Polish Embassy in Ottawa and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Afairs.  The SRG helped present two lectures at the University of Ottawa in September and November 2000, the first by Jan Ostrowski of Jagiellonian University and the second by Barbara Koc of the University of Lódz.  For further details please see our Polish Happenings page.

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ON 24 OCTOBER 2000 an international agreement of scientific co-operation was signed between the University of Ottawa and the Catholic Unversity of Lublin (KUL).  For further details please see our Polish Happenings page.

For an overview of all SRG happenings, click here.
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