N. Trubetzkoy´s theory of culture and the Austrian Slavistics

Research project P 14351 N. Trubetzkoy`s theory of culture and the Austrian Slavistics Heinz MIKLAS 09.10.2000 The founder of phonology and professor of Slavonic Philology at the University of Vienna, Nikolay S. Trubetzkoy (1890-1938) ranks among the most influental story as well as on various ethnological subjects have likewise been considered as being of notable importance by philologists. Many of these contributions have been issued in recent decades also separately, particularly in Moscow 1987, Vienna 1988 and Moscow 1995. On the other hand it deserves mentioning that the third important part of Trubetzkoy`s intellectual legacy, i.e. his books and articles dealing with the theory of culture, especially of the Russian culture under the specific "Eurasic" point of view, are not yet available as a conclusive corpus of original texts. Moreover the circumstances under which they were published - such as an extremely small number of copies and their circulation within an intimate circle of the Russian emigré philosophers, scholars and writers - make these highly small number studies virtually inaccessible to the majority of interested scholars. Their importance for the European cultural studies and the study of the history of humanities demands however a reliable textural reference collection of these materials to be complied, aside from a few translations, mainly into English, hitherto available (e.g. Ann Arbor 1991). The radical changes within the political and cultural landscape of Eastern and Central Europe during the last decade put forward the role of the Russian emigré studies as an essential part of the European dialogue of cultural traditions. Presently, it solicits a redefined approach to Trubetzkoy`s cultural, theory as a crossing point of the Slavonic philology, the emigration studies mentioned and the European, particularly Austrian, cultural history in the years 1920-1938. The project aims at the presentation of Trubetzkoy`s legacy on the theory of culture and its interpretation within this framework, the background of which will additionally b- outlined by relevant unpublished materials of various archives.

The results of the project have been brought together in a volume of selected writings entitled N. S. Trubetzkoy: Russland - Europa - Eurasien (Russia - Europe - Eurasia), which is to be published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. The major part is made up of annotated editions of Trubetzkoy`s most important treatises on cultural studies in German translation, among them The Legacy of Genghis Khan (A Look at Russian History not from the West but from the East), On the Problem of Russian Self-Perception, and the recently discovered version of Ideocracy as Social Order... which the author had revised for Western European readers. The edition is prefaced by an introduction and bibliography, which provide not only a characterisation of the author`s life and work but also a survey of the renewed in 1989 debate on the nature of Russia`s geopolitical and cultural position, as well as documenting the reception of his oeuvre between 1988 and 2002. These are followed by a presentation of those circumstances of Trubetzkoy`s life which determined the development of his world-view before and after his move from Moscow to Vienna, using a large amount of evidence, some of it newly discovered, some of it only recently made known. The appendix provides further documentation in the form of four sources dealing with N. S. Trubetzkoy as well as indexes of names and topics. As regards content the work has two focal points, mainly referring to Vienna as the setting for Trubetzkoy`s intellectual activity. The first presents the author`s statements, some of them highly polemic, which can be characterised as interpretations of questions from cultural history, ethnology and linguistics using the methods of early structuralism. Despite some controversial theses (such as assuming the existence of common traits in the identity of the so-called Romano-Germanic sphere of civilisation) his answers, but even more so his questions, have a burning topicality for us today, just as his criticism of the West`s Europe-centred view of the world does. The second focal point deals with the biographical background as well as with the origins of and determining influences on the positions taken by Trubetzkoy in his cultural studies; thus pertaining to the history of science and research in the condition of exile. Of particular relevance here is the relationship between Slavonic studies in Vienna and contemporary currents among Russian émigrés in Sofia, Prague, Berlin and Paris within the so-called Eurasian Movement, of which Trubetzkoy was a co-founder. All in all, the volume opens up a hitherto little known dimension of an author, whose work on linguistics has made him one of the twentieth century`s leading personalities in the humanities: Trubetzkoy`s popular scientific writing dealing with the philosophy of history and being of particular significance for the Austrian scientific tradition.