The Problem of Slavisms and Its Context

Abstract

The author analyzes key terms relating to questions of the Slavs, Slavonic studies, Slavonic reciprocity, and solidarity, Slavophile movements or pan-Slavism. His conception, originally intended as a commentary on and the polemic with political science, is based on the necessity for a basic change and re-orientation of the scientific disciplines which study in its widest sense issues relating to Slavonic cultures, those of all the Slavonic nations and their languages and literatures. – The paper begins with an analysis of the last book by the Czech literary scholar and founder of the Prague-Brno school of comparative studies, Frank Wollman (1888–1969) Slavisms and Antislavisms in the Spring of Nations (1968). The work of this author has aroused immense interest in recent years, as evidenced also by the German edition of his early synthesis Literature of the Slavs (2003) and the Slovene edition The Slovene Drama (2004). Even his last book, which links the philological aspect with that of some other humanities and social sciences, is quite inspiring and not only merely a remnant of the past. It reminds us of the often paradoxical development of Slavonic conceptions similar to various kinds of Slavophilism in which an important role was played by Czechs, Poles, and Russians, but also by some of the Southern Slavs. The author of the paper is attracted by the Polish conception of Slavisms as a valuable kind of Europeanism and an important step towards European integrations; this idea is linked to practical Polish policies of the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century. A separate problem connected with Slavisms concerns the scholarly Slavisms represented by Slavonic studies. The author tries to analyze both the history and the present state and conceptions of Slavonic studies which he himself expressed in a brochure dealing, however, primarily with Czech matters, but exposing a certain broadening out into a more general field of problems. In connection with the further development of Slavonic studies, he stresses the importance of the so-called regional studies at the Department for Regional Studies and Integration Genre Typology at the Institute of Slavonic Studies of Masaryk University in Brno. Finally, he also deals with problems of Slavonic research and scholarly organizations. – The permanent connection of Slavisms with current politics and policies represents a certain danger, but, on the other hand, is a constant source of inspiration and lively social thought, presenting alternatives to the dominant models of material as well as spiritual life. The developing and changing role of international scholarly organizations and associations (International Committee of Slavists, ICCEES and others, only loosely connected with the problems of Slavonic studies) is mentioned at the end of the study.