FIFTH INTERNATIONAL DOSTOEVSKY SYMPOSIUM

Inaugural Address

Robert Louis Jackson, President of IDS

As President of the International Dostoevsky Society, I want to welcome the 7O participants of the 5th Symposium of the IDS to the Centre Culturel International at the Chateau de Cerisy-la-Salle. At the same time, I want to thank our hosts at the Chateau de Cerisy-la-Salle and the organizers of this meeting in Paris, Professors Michel Cadot and Jacques Catteau, for making possible this splendid occasion in Normandy.

We gather together from all parts of Eastern and Western Europe, from England, Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Our 5th symposium, then, fulfills the first objective of our Society: to bring together Dostoevsky scholars from all parts of the world and to make it possible for them to exchange ideas on the work of Dostoevsky and on all literary, social, political, cultural, philosophical and religious questions that involved Dostoevsky in his writing and that involve us as we examine his work in the history of literature.

Dostoevsky stands in the forefront of Russian and world literature. He stands there alongside of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chekhov. To speak of his relevance in the world today has become a cliche. Hardly a writer has appeared since Dostoevsky who has not reflected in some degree the impact of his work. When we speak of the great problems and pressures of mankind in the twentieth century we speak of Dostoevsky. And, of course, people will continue to read and discuss him for many centuries to come.

Our 5th symposium fulfills another objective of our Society: to bring scholars together in conditions and circumstances that stimulate thought and interaction among people and recall Dostoevsky's own love of beauty and form. I have in mind the superb Chateau de Cerisy-la- Salle, where we are meeting, and its surroundings. "Le choque du beau totale, " Paul Valery said of the impact of the French town and countryside. We may say the same of Cerisy-la-Salle. This atmosphere enters into the work

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of our Society, as it did in Bad Ems, St. Wolfgang, Copenhagen and Bergamo, the site of our first four symposiums; sharing this beauty, these surroundings, contributes to the spirit of friendship and cooperation that has always characterized our symposiums.

We meet as a small group of scholars, we meet as friends. In the increasingly "monumental" conditions of contemporary society, where mass organizations and huge and cumbersome bureaucracies, both private and governmental, increasingly dominate all areas of life, the International Dostoevsky Society is an example of an organization that has retained a sense of measure, and, therefore, a sense of humanity, in its organization and activities. This brings me to a third objective of our Society, as conceived by its founders! namely, strictly to adhere to its small, flexible and independent status; to maintain its freedom from top-heavy bureaucracy within the Society and national or governmental pressures from outside the Society, We are a society of independent scholars, of individuals, whose purpose is the study of Dostoevsky. This is the hallmark of our Society. It is the foundation of our unity and creativity.

Finally, let me say that the fulfillment of the first three objectives of our Society - to bring together scholars from all parts of the world, to do so in conditions of beauty and measure, to maintain our independent status - facilitates a fourth objectives: to foster a spirit of friendship and cooperation among scholars and, in this small way, to further Dostoevsky's great ideal of sobornost' (a supremely Russian and Orthodox ideal) among all peoples.

Our next meeting will take place in Nottingham, England in 1986. I have no doubt that this meeting will be as productive and gratifying as our past symposiums. Let me say in conclusion that it is, and remains, the fond hope of our Society and all its members that Soviet Dostoevsky scholars - great leaders in the study of Dostoevsky - will join us in Nottingham. The door to our symposiums has remained open to all from the beginning of our Society in 1971. Permit me, then, as outgoing President of the International Dostoevsky Society, once again to extend a cordial invitation to Soviet Dostoevsky scholars to join our community in Nottingham. Thank you.

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In memoriam SIGURD FASTING

Carl Stief, Vice President of IDS

Since we met three years ago in Bergamo the Dostoevsky Society has lost one it its most active members - Sigurd Fasting, who on the 11th of March 1982 died after a traffic accident. He was born in the little Norwegian town Hønefoss in 1922, during the war he as so many Norwegian students sat in a German k-z-camp. In 1949 he took his degree as a candidate of philology at the University of Oslo, and in 1950 he came to Bergen, where he for 20 years worked as a librarian. In 1970 he defended his thesis for a doctor's degree: "V. G. Belinskij. Die Entwicklung seiner Literaturtheorie", an important contribution to the understanding of the influence of German philosophy on Belinskij. He was the same year appointed as professor of Russian philology at the University of Bergen, where the following years he built up the Russian Department with great energy. Already as a student he was with a personal engagement engrossed in Dostoevsky as his book "Dostoevskij og den russiske Nihilisme" (1956) shows. In his later years he became more and more occupied by the Russian authors and his last work, which has been published after his death, was "The Christ of Dostoevsky. "

Sigurd Fasting was behind a mild face a man of strong ethical principles, a charming person with deep warm feelings, a scholar for whom problems had a personal character. Literature and music were for him not a profession but indispensable as the daily bread.

I ask you to honour the memory of this remarkable colleague.

198-99

[Pp. 198-99 are missing from the original. K.L.]

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Professor Robert Louis Jackson, President of the IDS, delivered the Inaugural Address and welcomed the members of the International Dostoevsky Society, founded in 1971 in Bad Ems. Many 'veterans' were present at the Vth Symposium, including the oldest scholar, Professor Nicolas Pervushin from Canada, members of the Executive Council Robert L. Jackson, Nadine Natov and Rudolf Neuhäuser, and Professors Irene Zohrab, Malcolm Jones, Victor Terras, H. G. Gerigk, Dmitry Grigorieff, Irene Kirk, Nikolay Poltoratzky, Natalie Reber, Vladimir Šajkovic, Nathalie Sinaiski, Katherine Filips. To the great regret of the IDS members, some founding members of the Society - including the outstanding Dostoevsky scholars Reinhard Lauth, Jan van der Eng, Dominique Arban and Joseph Frank - could not come. In 1970-71 they helped to found the IDS and later attended all of the Society's Symposia. The participants of the Vth Symposium expressed their gratitude to Dominique Arban who had suggested Cerisy-la-Salle as the site of the IDS Symposium, but who, unfortunately, was unable to come to Cerisy for reasons of health.

Over the following days, in 10 sessions, the participants presented 44 papers. The sessions were chaired by well- known scholars from various countries: William M. Todd, Michel Cadot, Malcolm Jones, Horst-Jürgen Gerigk, Jacques Catteau, Rudolf Neuhäuser, René Wellek, Lubomir Radoyce, Victor Terras and Gleb Žekulin.

The discussion at this symposium was limited to Dostoevsky's works in the first half of the 1870'ies - The Possessed, (The Devils), The Raw youth, Diary of a Writer, 1873. The limitation proved fruitful and helped to exclude from most of the papers information and statements known to every serious Dostoevsky specialist. The grouping of papers according to unifying themes, such as Historical Context, Philosophical Ideas, Genesis and Function of Personages, Structure and Genre, Language and Style, helped to focus the attention of the audience on problems connected with the two less studied novels, and stimulated lively discussion. It should be noted that the two last sessions, planned as Round Table discussions with but brief statements only and free discussion afterwards - did not work out. The participants requested that these sessions be held on a regular basis; both sessions focused on Diary of a Writer.

Bater on many participants expressed their satisfaction with the choice of Symposium topics, and emphasized that such a concentration of attention and research on a limited period, as was done during the Vth Symposium,

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resulted in new approaches and analyses of a number of new themes and subjects which had been insufficiently discussed in critical works on Dostoevsky. A number of papers will be published in the next two issues of Dostoevsky Studies.

A number of young scholar successfully participated in the Symposium which is a good sign for the further development of this established academic association. With profound respect, the International Society honored the memory of three outstanding scholars - Professor Ettore Lo Gatto, Pierre Pascal and also Sigurd Fasting, a Vice- President of the IDS, who died in an accident on March 11, 1982. The General Assembly of the Society, held in the evening of August 20, was opened by Professor Robert Louis Jackson, who said that the Vth Symposium was dedicated to the memory of Sigurd Fasting, an IDS founding member who had attended all four Symposia. Carl Stief, a Professor at the University of Copenhagen, spoke of Professor Fasting's academic career and his contribution to the study of Russian literature in Norway and in other Scandinavian countries. Previously, on August 17, Professor Anna Maver Lo Gatto had spoken of the contribution to the study of Russian language and literature in Italy by one of the oldest Italian Slavists - her father, Ettore Lo Gatto, who passed away on March 16, 1983 at the age of 93. Professor Jacques Catteau honored the memory of his teacher Professor Pierre Pascal, whose death on July 1, 1983, was mourned by French Slavists. The works of the aforementioned scholars are known to every specialist in Russian literature.

At the meeting of the General Assembly, Professor Michel Cadot, head of the Organizing Committee, reported that he had managed to obtain funds from UNESCO to cover the expenses (stay in Cerisy and rail tickets in France) for scholars from East European countries: Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania and the German Democratic Republic. Unfortunately, Professor Konrad Onasch from Halle did not appear. All other participants covered their travel expenses out of their own pockets; a few received a small subsidy from their universities.

Professor Rudolf Neuhäuser - Editor-in-Chief of Dostoevsky Studies - reviewed the work of the IDS journal: after the IVth Symposium in Bergamo in August, 1980, when it was decided to turn the IDS Bulletin into a journal, three issues had been published. They contain articles, book reviews, professional notes and extensive current bibliographies.

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As for the date and place of the next Symposium, two proposals were put forth! Professor Malcolm Jones renewed the invitation of the British Dostoevsky scholars to hold the next Symposium in Nottingham; another proposal came from a group of scholars from Yugoslavia to hold the Sixth Symposium in Ljubljana and was transmitted by Professor Rudolf Neuhäuser. As the proposal to hold the Symposium in England had been made six years ago by Professor Richard Peace in Rungstedgaard, re-affirmed in Bergamo, and renewed in the spring by Professor Malcolm Jones, it was resolved to accept this proposal and to reconsider the Yugoslav proposal later.

In this way it was decided to hold the Sixth International Dostoevsky Symposium in August of 1986 in Nottingham, Great Britain. The organization of the Symposium will be in the hands of Professor Malcolm Jones, head of the Organizing Committee, He will be assisted in the preparation of the, Sixth Symposium by some of his British colleagues and by Nadine Natov, Executive Secretary of the IDS, The Program Committee will be headed by IDS President Michel Cadot, and will consist of Professors Malcolm Jones, Robert L. Jackson, and Richard Peace. In her brief remarks concerning the preparation for the Vth Symposium, Professor Nadine Natov noted that prospective speakers should write the resumes of the papers they would offer for the Sixth Symposium according to the form traditionally adopted for the IDS Symposia Brochure. The resumes are not to exceed one typewritten page, must include the exact address and the institution of the prospective speaker, and must be composed in two languages. In accordance with the proposal of M. Babović, professor at Belgrade University, one of the languages must be Russian. The Brochure containing the resumes of all the papers selected for the Sixth Symposium should be sent to the printers no later than April 1, 1986.

The main topic of the Sixth Symposium will continue the topic of the Fifth Symposium - the last two issues of Diary of a Writer, and The Brothers Karamazov.

Another item on the agenda of the General Assembly was the election of Honorary Presidents. Professor Robert L. Jackson nominated two eminent scholars: Professor René Wellek, of Yale University, whose works on the history of literary criticism and comparative literature are known to any scholar in the field of literature, and Professor Georgii M. Fridlender of Leningrad, whose contributions to the field of Dostoevsky studies are widely recognized. The nomination of Professor Rene Wellek was

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acclaimed unanimously, and Professor Wellek accepted the Honorary Presidency. In the case of Professor Fridlender, who was not present at the Symposium but whose nomination was unanimously supported, Professor Jackson informed the audience that he would write a letter to Professor Fridlender and ask him whether he would accept the position of an Honorary President of the IDS.

Professor R. L. Jackson then Informed the audience that due to his numerous commitments for the coming years, he had decided to step down as IDS President after six years of service. The Nominating Committee in cooperation with the Executive Council and National Representatives worked out a list of new candidates to serve on the Executive Council. Professor Nicolas Pervushin, head of the Nominating Committee, presented the following slate for election: President - Professor Michel Cadot (France); Vice Presidents - Nina Kaucisvili (Italy) and Carl Stief (Denmark) - were nominated for re-election. Professor Kaucisvili accepted the position of the Vice President for another three-year term, but Professor Stief, who had served two terms, declined his nomination. Thus four new Vice Presidents were nominated and approved by the General Assembly: Malcolm V. Jones (Great Britain), Victor Terras (USA), Gyula Király (Hungary), and Geir Kjetsaa (Norway). The Executive Secretary Nadine Natov (USA) and the Editor of Dostoevsky Studies Rudolf Neuhäuser (Austria) were re-elected.

During the Symposium, the Executive Council held several meetings and two meetings with National Representatives. To a proposal from a Yugoslav scholar that all Symposia sessions should be in Russian, members of the Executive Council emphasized that the membership of the IDS should not be limited to Slavists, but should include philosophers, specialists on comparative literature, and art specialists from different countries, as is stated in the IDS Constitution.

On Friday, August 19, two buses took the Symposium participants and guests to Mont St. Michel, - the majestic Abbey of legendary origin - dedicated to the Archangel Michael by bishop Aubert at the beginning of the eight century.

On Saturday, August 20, the traditional Memorial Service for Fedor Dostoevsky was celebrated in the castle's upper salon by the Rev. Dr. Dmitry Grigorieff of Washington, D. C., assisted by Rev. Henrik Fleming from Sweden.

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Thanks to the hospitality of the Administration of the Castle of Cerisy-la-Salle, the Symposium participants were provided an excellent opportunity to meet informally in salons of the castle, in the park where coffee was served after lunch, and in the dining rooms where excellent meals were offered. At the last dinner, on August 22, all the tables were decorated with candles and flowers from the castle's garden. The Members of the Executive Council expressed their gratitude to the Administration of the Castle, especially to M-me Catherine Peyrou, Professor Maurice de Gandillac, M-lle Catherine de Gandillac, and Mr. Jean-Pierre Cole for their friendly assistance to the participants.

The last dinner turned into a spontaneous celebration of the 80th birthday of Professor René Wellek; the Administration of the castle offered Professor Wellek a birthday cake decorated with eight tall candles, and the Symposium participants sang in various languages their birthday greetings to the IDS Honorary President.

The next day, August 23, after a morning session and a farewell lunch, the participant began to leave the beautiful castle. Those eight days spent at the castle of Cerisy marked an important date in the further development of Dostoevsky studies and of international cooperation among Dostoevsky scholars.

Respectfully submitted by

Dr. Nadine Natov
Executive Secretary of the IDS
Professor of Russian Literature at
George Washington
University Washington, D. C.

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Report

Rudolf Neuhäuser, Editor & Martin Rice, Associate Editor

Dostoevsky Studies, the yearbook of the International Dostoevsky Society, first appeared in 1980, replacing The Bulletin of the International Dostoevsky Society which had appeared since 1972. So far three issues of Dostoevsky Studies - 646 pages in print - have been published, comprising 34 articles, 5 notes, reviews of over 20 books, and a bibliography listing hundreds of titles.

The publication of Dostoevsky Studies was possible Initially only with the financial aid of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research which granted AS 30, 000 spaced over a period of three years and the annual grants of the university of Tennessee (Russian and East European Studies Committee) obtained by the Associate Editor. Both sources of support have been exhausted and we cannot expect to receive further grants from them. Fortunately, the publication has found a sufficient number of subscribers to secure continued publication, at least as long as most of the technical work can be done at the university of Tennessee at reasonable costs. The Editor would like to emphasize the fact that the publication of Dostoevsky Studies would have been impossible without Professor Rice's dedicated efforts on behalf of the yearbook. The Editor would also like to acknowledge with sincere gratitude the great assistance they have had from so many colleagues, from our book-review editor, Professor Donald Fiene, from the many who contribute each year to the compiling of the bibliography: Professors Natov, Gerigk, Pachuta, Slattery, Goldman, Malloy, Albert Kovacs, and from others who continue to send in contributions on an irregular basis. All those colleagues, especially those on the Editorial Board, who had to assess manuscripts, sometimes several in a row, also deserve a vote of thanks.

The following facts have been prepared by the Associate Editor:

Circulation. Paid subscriptions from individuals fluc-

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tuate from about 85 to 100 per year, while we continue to distribute about 3O copies gratis for review purposes to indexing services and to certain colleagues in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, bringing the total number, excluding institutional or commercial sales, to about 115 to 130 copies. Paid subscriptions to libraries, subscription services, and bookstores, as noted above, have been increasing. We now number such sales at about 120, bringing our total circulation to approximately 250.

Finances. Until now we generally realize income from sales each year of about $2, 000. 00. Of this, approximately $1, 500. 00 go to the cost of printing the journal and the remaining funds are used for postage to distribute the publication, to send the Newsletter and membership forms, to send reminder notices, to purchase supplies such as mailing labels, envelopes, and so on. Thus, as mentioned, we are just about at the break-even point. This year we were able to send a global inscription fee of $ 100. 00 to the Center at Cerisy-la-Salle, and to pay for the production of the Symposium programs (which, with postage, came to about $ 150. 00). On the other hand, it should be noted that we do from time to time receive donations from kind colleagues all over the world, and that Professor Natov continues to use a significant amount of her own funds to carry on the work of our organization.

The Editors would like to appeal to all colleagues to forward their $ 10. 00 regularly to assure that they receive the publication. As before, we ask you to send us information on Dostoevsky studies in your geographical area concerning conferences, exhibits, TV, film, or theatrical plays which have to do with Dostoevsky. Above all, send us the results of your own research for publication. Manuscripts will be assessed by members of the Editorial Board or other recognized Dostoevsky specialists. The assessments will be anonymous. It has been suggested to us to introduce a new section of miscellanea where brief items - between a paragraph and a page in length - could be published, such as facts and findings that spring from your research but do not merit a full-length paper. It has also been suggested to us to publish thematic issues. This would require a lengthy period of preparation, but will be investigated. The Editors are also investigating the possibility of publishing a monograph series (i. e., supplementary volumes of the journal) at - irregular intervals, financed through advance subscriptions.

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Finally, papers read at Cerisy will be reviewed by the Editorial Board for publication in Dostoevsky Studies IV and V (1983 and 1984).

In conclusion, we would like to remind our colleagues that, although our circulation in terms of numbers is not as high as that of some other journals in the field of Russian literature, we nevertheless count among our readers almost every important Dostoevsky scholar in the world. We can therefore guarantee to anyone whose article is accepted for publication in the journal that his or her contribution will be seen by a highly select and important readership.

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Acceptance Speech

Michel Cadot, President elect of IDS

Mès chers collègues,

C'est avec une véritable émotion que je prends cette fois la parole en tant gue troisième Président de la Société Internationale Dostoievski, succédant à Nils Ake Nilsson (1971-1977) et à Robert Louis Jackson (1977 -1983), assistés depuis douze ans par les vice-présidents, les représentants nationaux, et les deux piliers de la Société depuis sa fondation, notre chère Nadine Natov en qualité de secrétaire du Bureau Executive, et Rudolf Neuhäuser, l'infatigable éditeur du Bulletin puis des Dostoevsky Studies. Chacune de nos rencontres triennales, Bad Ems (1971), St. Wolfgang (1974), Rungstedgaard (1977), Bergamo (198O) et Cerisy (1983), a marqué une étape essentielle dans la vie de la Société, ainsi que dans la confrontation des méthodes et des résultats de la recherche dostoievskienne à travers le monde.

Je voudrais à cet égard assurer l'Assemblée que le nouveau Président et le Bureau Executive consacreront tous leurs efforts à maintenir et si possible élargir les liens scientifiques avec nos collègues des pays socialistes, et en particulier tâcheront d'obtenir le retour de spécialistes soviétiques de Dostoievski, malgré les difficultés de l'heure présente, car leur absence prolongée créerait un déséquilibre dangereux pour l'avenir et le pretige de notre Société.

C'est donc en pleine conscience des tâches qui attendent la nouvelle équipe, mais aussi avec une confiance entière dans l'efficacité de son travail, que je remercie l'Assemblée générale du grand honneur qu'elle me fait, en tant que comparatiste et tant que Français, et que je donne rendez-vous à tous au prochain Symposium que le professeur Malcolm Jones organisera à Nottingham en 1986. En attendant, je souhaite aux collègues présents à Cerisy une fructueuse et agréable poursuite de leur séjour et de leurs travaux! 

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sixth International Dostoevsky Symposium

Malcolm V. Jones, Chairman of the Organizing Committee

At its meeting on August 2O at Cerisy-la-Salle, the General Assembly of the International Dostoevsky Society agreed that the next Symposium should be held at the University of Nottingham, England, in August 1986. Subsequently a booking was made at Nightingale Hall, University Park, Nottingham for the week of the 9 to the 16 August.

Nightingale Hall is located in an attractive part of the University Park and within five minutes walk of Wollaton Park, with its Elizabethan mansion, Wollaton Hall, open to the public, Nottingham itself has literary associations which are of interest to students of Dostoevskys Byron's home, Newstead Abbey, with its rich manuscript collection, is only nine miles distant; Eastwood, the birthplace of D. H. Lawrence, is even closer. Shakespeare's home at Stratford is an hour and a half away by road.

Directions for reaching Nottingham will be circulated later, but there are good trains hourly from London, St. Paneras, which can be reached without difficulty from the main international airports. Visitors travelling by road will find Nottingham at junction 25 of the M1 motorway. Alternatively the East Midlands Airport has regular flights to and from Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London.

Dostoevsky studies has a long tradition at Nottingham. Leaving aside the publications of the present head of the Department of Slavonic Studies, Malcolm Jones, members of the society will be familiar with the work of Janko Lavrin (head of the department from 1923-52). F. F. Seeley (head of the department from 1957 to 1967) and Michael Futrell (a member of the lecturing staff from 1956 to 1967). Among recent and forthcoming events at Nottingham associated with Dostoevsky are the Centenary Conference held there in October 1981 whose proceedings were published in Dostoevsky Studies 3 and the Dostoevsky Exhibition shortly to arrive in Britain from the

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USSR (Nottingham 14 January to 11 February 1984).

There will be two themes for the programme of the Sixth Symposium: i) Dostoevsky's works from 1876 to 1881 and ii) Dostoevsky in the context of the literature of his time (preferably with reference to the last decade of his life).

Any preliminary enquiries should be addressed to Professor Malcolm V, Jones, Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, England. (Telephone, (0602)56101, extension 2554)

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Dostoevsky Exhibition (1983/84)

Malcolm V. Jones, University of Nottingham

An exhibition "F. M. Dostoevsky" is being shown in Great Britain under the terms of the exchange programme with the USSR. The exhibition opened at the National Library of Scotland (5 November - 23 December), proceeds from there to the Fine Art Gallery at the university of Nottingham (14 January - 11 February) and, finally, will be shown at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth (1 March - 12 April).

The exhibition has eleven sections:

1. Portraits of Dostoevsky
2. Illustrations of Dostoevsky's works
3. Russian writers contemporary to Dostoevsky
4. Portraits of the writer's relatives and personal acquaintances
5. Views of places associated with Dostoevsky's life and work
6. Places associated with Dostoevsky's stay in Europe 1867-71
7. Personal possessions and objects associated with Dostoevsky
8. Reproductions in Dostoevsky's possession
9. First editions of Dostoevsky's works published during his own lifetime
10. Soviet editions of Dostoevsky's works
11. Manuscripts