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The two volumes under review are characterized by an absolute wealth of material, the exceptional clarity of the presentation, and the theoretical conclusions which take into account the often conflicting empirical data.--NLO Written by an international cast of authors, ranging from doctoral candidates to senior scholars, the essays probe an impressively wide variety of published and unpublished materials. Each volume opens with a substantial editorial introduction and ends with a brief summary of its contributors' conclusions. Since the standard of contributions is uniformly high, the only sense in which a reader might feel disappointed, remembering the title of these books, is that they fail to mention not only Valuev but practically everyone else in imperial Russia after 1850. The historian, perhaps more than the linguist or literary scholar, is bound to feel a sense of loss. Still, it is churlish to ask for more when so much is already on offer. Whatever these volumes may lack in chronological range is more than compensated by their multi-disciplinary variety, sensitivity to gender, and strength in depth. While most of the essays are theoretically well informed, none descends into sociolinguistic jargon and even the most technical among them remain accessible to the non-specialist. Readers will nevertheless need a good knowledge of Russian and French to grasp their significance, a requirement that will unfortunately take them beyond the reach of most Anglophone undergraduates. They will be missing a treat. No less an authority than Peter Burke regards the whole undertaking as 'a milestone in the development of the social history of language'. That is no exaggeration. --Simon Dixon, UCL Slavic and East European Review What is compelling about the twenty-four essays in these volumes is the way the authors deploy their individual disciplinary perspectives as a lens through which to explore the historical interplay between French and Russian during that period, and to consider what this interplay reveals about Russia at the time... There has been very little investigation of the history of Western European languages in Russia, but these two volumes richly and successfully redress the balance. Although each volume has a specific focus - the first on 'language use among the Russian elite', and the second on 'language attitudes and identity' - taken together, the essays 'sharpen the focus on linguistic matters and paint a fascinating picture of the shifting interplay between French and Russian at the heart of the social, political, and cultural history of Russia... The two volumes constitute an original, thought-provoking, and absorbing contribution to language studies and the history of Russia. They should be of enormous interest to specialists, students, and many general readers. --Michele Cohen, Richmond American International University in London Language and History To return to our holistic metric: do the pieces related to clearly articulated common themes? (yes); do they relate to one another and even make cross-references from one article to the next? (yes); do the editors include their own narrative guides or signposts to the reader that introduce and summarize the body of work? (yes). The points of intersection are multiple and visible. Clearly, then, well above the kashka register, and at the very least firmly achieving kholodets status and climbing confidently toward the ethereal pirog. The editors provide very helpful commentaries for each volume, and I think every reader will appreciate them. I appreciate and fully endorse their desire to break down the received categories and substitute them for closer and more nuanced readings. In this the collection is fully successful... I applaud the editors, and the conference that preceded the books, and I can only hope that the contributors are inspired to reconvene and take the discussion(s) to the next phase. Let there be Volume 3! --Gary Marker, Stony Brook University Russie Ancienne et Imperiale These two volumes are a fine introduction to a topic of enquiry that has, until now, received much less scholarly attention than it deserves. --Adam Coker, University of Exeter Modern Language Review The two volumes in question are an ambitious undertaking by a group of scholars specializing in Russian Studies. The contributors are well-versed in each other s work and the field of Russian Studies. The collection can be recommended also to those who do not specialize in Russian Studies, but have more general interests such as translation culture, historical sociolinguistics, and multilingualism in Europe in the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries. --Anna Verschik Ab Imperio

"The two volumes under review are characterized by an absolute wealth of material, the exceptional clarity of the presentation, and the theoretical conclusions which take into account the often conflicting empirical data.-- ""NLO"" The two volumes in question are an ambitious undertaking by a group of scholars specializing in Russian Studies. The contributors are well-versed in each other・s work and the field of Russian Studies. The collection can be recommended also to those who do not specialize in Russian Studies, but have more general interests such as translation culture, historical sociolinguistics, and multilingualism in Europe in the eighteenth‒nineteenth centuries. --Anna Verschik ""Ab Imperio"" These two volumes are a fine introduction to a topic of enquiry that has, until now, received much less scholarly attention than it deserves. --Adam Coker, University of Exeter ""Modern Language Review"" To return to our holistic metric: do the pieces related to clearly articulated common themes? (yes); do they relate to one another and even make cross-references from one article to the next? (yes); do the editors include their own narrative guides or signposts to the reader that introduce and summarize the body of work? (yes). The points of intersection are multiple and visible. Clearly, then, well above the kashka register, and at the very least firmly achieving kholodets status and climbing confidently toward the ethereal pirog. The editors provide very helpful commentaries for each volume, and I think every reader will appreciate them. I appreciate and fully endorse their desire to break down the received categories and substitute them for closer and more nuanced readings. In this the collection is fully successful... I applaud the editors, and the conference that preceded the books, and I can only hope that the contributors are inspired to reconvene and take the discussion(s) to the next phase. Let there be Volume 3! --Gary Marker, Stony Brook University ""Russie Ancienne et Imp�riale"" What is compelling about the twenty-four essays in these volumes is the way the authors deploy their individual disciplinary perspectives as a lens through which to explore the historical interplay between French and Russian during that period, and to consider what this interplay reveals about Russia at the time... There has been very little investigation of the history of Western European languages in Russia, but these two volumes richly and successfully redress the balance. Although each volume has a specific focus - the first on 'language use among the Russian elite', and the second on 'language attitudes and identity' - taken together, the essays 'sharpen the focus on linguistic matters and paint a fascinating picture of the shifting interplay between French and Russian at the heart of the social, political, and cultural history of Russia... The two volumes constitute an original, thought-provoking, and absorbing contribution to language studies and the history of Russia. They should be of enormous interest to specialists, students, and many general readers. --Mich�le Cohen, Richmond American International University in London ""Language and History"" Written by an international cast of authors, ranging from doctoral candidates to senior scholars, the essays probe an impressively wide variety of published and unpublished materials. Each volume opens with a substantial editorial introduction and ends with a brief summary of its contributors' conclusions. Since the standard of contributions is uniformly high, the only sense in which a reader might feel disappointed, remembering the title of these books, is that they fail to mention not only Valuev but practically everyone else in imperial Russia after 1850. The historian, perhaps more than the linguist or literary scholar, is bound to feel a sense of loss. Still, it is churlish to ask for more when so much is already on offer. Whatever these volumes may lack in chronological range is more than compensated by their multi-disciplinary variety, sensitivity to gender, and strength in depth. While most of the essays are theoretically well informed, none descends into sociolinguistic jargon and even the most technical among them remain accessible to the non-specialist. Readers will nevertheless need a good knowledge of Russian and French to grasp their significance, a requirement that will unfortunately take them beyond the reach of most Anglophone undergraduates. They will be missing a treat. No less an authority than Peter Burke regards the whole undertaking as 'a milestone in the development of the social history of language'. That is no exaggeration. --Simon Dixon, UCL ""Slavic and East European Review"""

Author Information

Derek Offord is Research Professor in Russian at the University of Bristol. Lara Ryazanova Clarke is Senior Lecturer in Russian and Academic Director of the Princess Dashkova Russian Centre at the University of Edinburgh. Vladislav Rjeoutski is Research Fellow at the Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau. Gesine Argent is Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Bristol.

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