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All CAS sessions take place in the south wing of Sidney Smith Hall. Room numbers are indicated following the Panel title. SS 2110 means room 2110 in Sidney Smith Hall. Room 1080 is on the far south end of the building, on the first floor. All other rooms, 2110, 2111, 2130, and 2102 (AGM) are on the second floor, a very short distance from each other. The CAS Banquet takes place on Monday evening at the Dynasty Chinese Restaurant, 131 Bloor Street West, on the 2nd floor of the Colonnade Building. It is across the street from the Chapters Bookstore. From Sidney Smith, walk north to Bloor Street. Turn right, walk past the stadium and the Royal Ontario Museum, and cross Avenue Road. The Colonnade Building is on Bloor Street, on the south side, just a short distance from this intersection. You may take the outdoor stairs to the patio, or the escalator and elevator inside the building. To attend the banquet you must purchase a ticket in advance. The joint CAS/CUMS music sessions are in the Edward Johnson Building, just south of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Session 1. Sunday, May 26, 2002. 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM
Panel 1.1 Balkan Literature. SS 2110
Chair: Adelina Angusheva-Tihanov
Cancelled
Panel 1.2, Dostoevsky and His Influence, SS2111
Chair: Donna Orwin
Irina Iourtaeva, CREES, University of Toronto
The One Tune of the Gospel in Dostoevsky's Idiot.
An investigation of the archetypal fundamentals of the plot of Dostoevsky's Idiot. The plot of the novel is tied to a special episode of Holy text. A comparison of the eternal and the actual explains the philosophical significance, genesis, structure and artistic devices in the novel.
Inna Tigountsova, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Dostoevsky's "The Ugly" and Its Legacy in Contemporary Russian Prose
I shall address the problem of "the ugly" (bezobraznoe) in Dostoevsky and Russian prose of the second half of the last century. Modern writers, such as Vladimir Makanin ("Underground, or The Hero of Our Time"), Iurii Mamleev ("Shatuny"), Viktor Pelevin ("Chapaev and Emptiness"), etc., demonstrate the use of Dostoevsky's ideas of "bezobraznoe" in their texts sometimes modifying them to fit into the current context.
Panel 1.3, Ukrainian Identity Formation. SS2130
Panel sponsored by the Canadian Association for Ukrainian Ethnology
Chair: Radomir Bilash
Roman Shiyan, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
People of the Book: The Popular Concepts of Origin of Cossack People
By associating themselves with "descendants of Japhet", "Scythians" or "Khazarians", Cossacks and their descendants viewed themselves as an ancient and distinguished entity. Those views predominantly came from "national histories", produced by scores of Polish and Ukrainian writers of XVI-XVII centuries which entered the realm of folklore. Motifs of "Egyptian captivity" and legends about three brothers-founders provided Cossack people with a sense of dignity, continuity, and an escape from harsh reality.
Maryna Strunka, Independent Scholar
Building an Ethnic Component into Ukraine's Educational System in the Early 1990s
The immediate post-independence period in Ukraine saw a growth in questions regarding ethnocultural identity as well as an upsurge in the national movement. The educational system responded by seeking to integrate traditional Ukrainian culture into its programming. This occurred in two main ways: through the initiative of schools themselves and through curriculum development. This paper examines these matters through the perspective of someone directly involved in this process.
Natalka Shostak, University of Saskatchewan
Tradition and personal commitment: Keeping Malanka alive in East Central Alberta
In this paper, based on research of Malanka celebrations in Andrew, Alberta, and participation in the University of Alberta "Malanka" project in 2001, I explore the relationship between the continuity of the folk tradition and personal commitment to it. It is at the intersection of both that we should seek understanding of how the traditional survives, blends with, and makes the modern.
Session 2. Sunday, May 26, 2002, 10:45 AM - 12:30 PM
Panel 2.1, Prague--Moscow--Paris--New York, SS2110
Chair: Hilary Krupa
David Lightfoot, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Avant-garde photomontage and the Construction of Moscow Travel Logs
In 1922, Karel Teige wrote that no visit to an island paradise was as exotic as a voyage to the Soviet Union. Travel logs became a ritual of self definition as Czechoslovakia debated the political trials. This paper will explore both significance of these geographies and their origins in the photomontage of the Czech avant-garde.
Jennifer-Marie Olson, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
"Je suis Francois." The Myth of Villon in Fischerová's Hodina mezi psem a vlkem
Francois Villon has been depicted as a rebel, a gallows bird, and a "wax angel". In Hodina mezi psem a vlkem Daniela Fischerová examines myths of Villon the poet by imposing those myths on Villon the dramatis persona.. Using anachronism and simultaneity she confronts the spectators with their preconceptions of Villon and challenges them to reconsider the importance of the myths.
Daria Tica-Valero, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
The World from Home and Abroad--Always Greener on the Other Side: An Examination of Iva Pekárková's Literatry Works
Many dream of the West as a Utopia, only to find out that life is hard in any country. The readiness of immigrants to accept the intolerable when abroad will be contrasted with their aversion to similar circumstances at home. Using Iva Peká rková's Pera a perute (Truck Stop Rainbows), Kulaty Svet (The World is Round) and Dej mi ty prachy (Gimme the money) I examine the expectations of immigrants in America versus the way of life in Czechoslovakia.
Discussants: Veronika Ambros.
Panel 2.2, Postwar Soviet Campaigns: Ideals and Reality, SS2111
Chair: Paul Robinson
Jean Levesque, University of Toronto
Labour and Discipline under Late Stalinism: Real and False Peasants on Soviet Collective Farms, 1945-1953
This paper examines the agrarian policies of the late Stalinist State during the postwar reconstruction effort and their impact on peasant labour productivity. Various campaigns aimed at fostering discipline failed to mobilize collective farmers but forced peasants away from their farms. Agriculture became a "part-time" occupation.This was perceived to be a threat to the socialist character of Soviet agriculture.
Case Boterbloem, Nipissing University
Zhdanov and the Postwar Ideological Offensive
This paper investigates the early stages of the Soviet leadership's efforts at the reimposition of an ideological straightjacket upon Soviet society in 1945 and 1946. Upon the basis of archival evidence and the recent, mainly Russian-language, published document collections and monographs discussing this period, the role of Andrei Zhdanov in steering this process will be particularly assessed.
Panel 2.3, Ukrainian Canadian Ethnography, SS2130
Panel sponsored by the Canadian Association for Ukrainian Ethnology
Chair: Natalia Shostak
Bohdan Medwidsky, Ukrainian Folklore Program, University of Alberta
Peter Svarich as an Ethnographer. (in Ukrainian).
Peter Svarich was an important member of the Ukrainian community in Alberta for many decades. Among his many interests, he produced a significant body of writing and visual images on ethnographic subjects. His ethnographic writing incorporates descriptions of folklife from his native Pokuttia, as well as many descriptions of Ukrainian Canadian experience.
Vita Holoborodko, Ukrainian Folklore Program, University of Alberta.
Patterns of Continuity and Change in the Foodways of the Early Ukrainian Immigrants in East-Central Alberta
Ukrainian Canadians preserved their foodways as a part of their cultural heritage. Despite acculturative pressure, the enlargement of consumption capability and the range of commodities available to consumer choice, traditional Ukrainian food solidified the community and helped maintain ethnic identity. The materials illustrate continuity and change in the foodways of the Ukrainians of the Bloc Settlement between 1892-1930.
Andriy Chernevych, Ukrainian Folklore Program, University of Alberta.
A Case Study of Malanka Traditions in Edmonton
Malanka provides an interesting example of the fusion of traditional ethnic culture with innovations that reflects contemporary cultural trends within the Ukrainian Canadian community. My research focuses on the social functions of the celebration: entertainment and socializing, traditional ritual and fund-raising and addresses questions pertaining to group identity, the re-interpretation of ethnic tradition and the search for "authenticity".
Session 3. Sunday, May 26, 2002, 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Panel 3.1, Recent Developments in Croatia and the Renewal of Cultural Cooperation with Canadians of Croatian Origin, SS2110
Chair: Vinko Grubisic
Anita Mikulic-Kovacevic, University of Toronto
Education and Gender in Croatia: Women's Roles in Public Schools and Universities
The paper will assess the role women play in academic circles both at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary education levels in Croatia. Recent efforts by women's groups to reach out to similar groups in other countries, both in Europe and overseas, is a vital step in improving gender relations in Croatia.
Ivan Cizmic, Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb
Croatian Recent Emigration to Overseas Countries
This paper will provide a broad overview of the statistics regarding the number and type of emigrants from Croatia to overseas countries during the last decade. Among the important considerations are: the ratio of males to females, marital status, reasons for emigrating, education, social positions as well as the nature of the emigrants' aspirations.
Stan Granic, Independent Scholar
Cooperative Efforts in the Advancement and Study of the Croatian Language in Canada
This paper will discuss the nature of Croatian language courses at the high school level in the province of Ontario, along with the kinds of courses offered at the post-secondary level on university campuses and through correspondence. It will describe curriculum guidelines, goals and expectations, and the types of materials employed for teaching, including texts, computer databases and library materials.
Panel 3.2, Chekhov, SS2111
Chair: Leslie O'Bell
Mark Conliffe, German and Russian, Willamette University
On Isolation in Chekhov's Writing of the 1880s
To my knowledge, Chekhov's "Skuchnaia istoriia" has never received a generic examination that explores threads in Chekhov's writing of the 1880s--threads that anticipate aspects of this story and that mark it as a major achievement in his writing. I will underscore the ties that join "Skuchnaia istoriia" to many of Chekhov's earlier works and reveal the ways in which Chekhov brought these ties together in one work.
George Mihaychuk, Slavic Languages, Georgetown University
Chekhov: The Beguiling Surface
Chekhov utilizes the Realist aesthetic of his day to subvert its very principles. The expectations of a surface texture of everyday life characteristic of Realism appear to be met when in fact Chekhov's use of various details, description, dialogue, and characterization force an alternative reading. My paper will discuss examples of alternative readings that create a new set of aesthetic principles at odds with 19th c Realism. In this regard I argue that Chekhov marks the end of 19th c. Realism in Russian literature.
Ralph Lindheim, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Comedy in Chekhov's "The Duel"
In "The Duel" Chekhov looks backwards to devices, characters, and themes employed in his early career as a writer of popular, conventional comedy but, at the same time, offers a more mature and more profound treatment of these traditional elements.
Panel 3.3, Meeting of the Canadian Association for Ukrainian Ethnology, SS2130
Chair: Andrij Makuch
The agenda for this meeting includes the association's business meeting (which will begin at 1:00 PM; refreshments will be available) and the following panel discussion:
Roundtable: Ukrainian Cultural Practitioners in the Toronto Area.
Moderator: Marcia Ostashewski
1. Kvitka Kondracki. A Perspective on Ukrainian Choral Activity in the Toronto Area
2. Victor Mishalow. Some Bandura Activities in the Toronto Area
3. Jurij Klufas. Bloor West Village Festival.
4. Danovia Stechishin. The Ukrainian Dance scene in Toronto
5. Valerij Movchan. The Contemporary Ukrainian Dance Scene in Toronto
Session 4. Sunday, May 26, 2002, 3:15 PM - 5:00 PM
Panel 4.1, New Perspectives in Slovakia, SS2110
Chair: TBA
M. Mark Stolarik, History, University of Ottawa
Slovak Historiography Since the Downfall of Communism (1989)
The former Marxist regime imposed upon Slovak historians a unified theme--the social history of the proletariat--and proscribed certain topics, such as the history of Slovak nationalism, the church, the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the works of political emigres, minority problems, relations with Hungary and so on. Now Slovak historians are working on all these topics.
Peter Petro, Germanic Studies, University of British Columbia
Rivers of Babylon: The Novelistic Trilogy by Peter Pistanek
Peter Pistanek is the most original prose writer to have emerged after the fall of communism in Slovak literature. His trilogy, The Rivers of Babylon, is a satirical masterpiece that--using a mixture of genres--parodies a criminal Bildungsroman, the novel of adventure, and includes among others the supernatural, para-literature, and fantastic literature. It also manages to document the swiftly changing reality of the contemporary Slovakia.
Panel 4.2, Gender Issues in the Past, SS2111
Chair: Natalia Aponiuk
Adelina Angusheva-Tihanov, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto
Shaping Women's Body in the South Slavic Middle Ages: Medical Knowledge and Woman's Health in Bulgarian and Serbian Written Traditions
The paper explores medieval Slavic notions of female body through sources concerning women's health such as 1) ancient medical treatises, translated and disseminated in the Slavic Middle Ages; and 2) popular healing recipes, incantations and magical practices. These texts show that in medieval Slavic culture the notion of the female body was shaped in the context of ancient medical corpus and its medieval adaptations.
Natalia Pylypiuk, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
The Face of Wisdon in the Prose of Skovoroda
The Ukrainian philosopher and poet, Hryhorij Skovoroda, explicitly defended iconographic portrayals of divine Wisdom as a woman and emphasized that basic theological concepts are framed in metaphors for a complex and imperceptible reality which cannot be conveyed through literal means. Besides simultaneously explicating the poetics of theology and elevating art to a sacral sphere, Skovoroda's treatment of Wisdom suggests that for him gender was not predicated solely or primarily by biology.
Maryna Romanets, English, University of Lethbridge
Reenacted Tradition: Return of the Baroque in Marusia Churai
Marusia Churai's story, monopolized and romanticized by male authors throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is rewrittten by Kostenko with a shift from the frontal relationship with master texts to a displaced perspective: as in a baroque anamorphosic painting, an image appears hidden beneath the apparent amalgam of themes. Kostenko's neo-baroque text reveals the mechanisms of conversion whereby histories are erased but resurface as symptoms on the colonized body politic to be reread, reinterpreted, and rewritten.
Panel 4.3, Slavic Immigrants in Canada and the United States, SS2130
Chair: Maxim Tarnawsky
Jars Balan, CIUS, University of Alberta
Sigmund Bychinsky: Canada's First Ukrainian Man of Letters
Sigmund Bychinsky (1880-1947) came to Canada from the United States in 1907. Quickly immersing himself in Ukrainian Canadian community life, immediately became involved in a wide variety of publishing and literary activities, to which he devoted considerable energy throughout much of his life. This paper will examine BychinskyÆs editorial, critical and authorial achievements, and discuss his unique legacy to Ukrainian Canadian literature.
Andrij Makuch, CIUS, University of Toronto
Ukrainian Toronto from the Great War to the Cold War
From 1918 to the late 1940s Toronto's Ukrainian community experienced a profound transformation, growing from an assortment of loosely knit factions into a well-established structure. At the same time the fractiousness that characterized the community subsided, and Toronto began to rival Winnipeg as Ukrainian Canada's "first" city. This paper examines these developments.
John Woodsworth, Slavic Research Group, University of Ottawa
Portrayal of the Doukhobors on the World Wide Web
The term "Doukhobors" appears on web-pages themed from social protest to antiques to rock-songs. Major search-engines list 1,500-3,300 references, while Yandex turns up 1,280 Russian-language pages alone. This paper will examine some of the contrasting images of the Doukhobors on the Internet, in general-interest, specific-interest, bibliographical and commercial categories.
The Danylo Husar Struk Memorial Lecture Oleh Ilnytzkyj, University of Alberta Editor, Canadian Slavonic Papers Deconstructing Gogol's / Hohol's two 'Souls' Sunday, May 26, 2002. 6:00 PM, UC140 Reception and book launch |
Special Sessions. Monday, May 27, 2002
Joint Sessions with the Canadian University Music Society
Joint Panel 1, Political Formation Through Music, Edward Johnson Building 216, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Chair: Robert Karpiak
Rachel Anderson, McGill University
Lieder, Totalitarianism and the Bund. Deutscher Mädel: Girls' Political Coercion Through Song
Susannah Lockwood Smith, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota
The Problem of Soviet Folk Song of the 1930s and 1940s
Joint Panel 2, Bartok Studies, Edward Johnson Building 330, 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Chair: Mary Woodside
Stephen Satory, Royal Conservatory of Music
Teaching Bartok's Piano Music: "Tempo Rubato" for Non-Hungarians
Nandor Dreisziger, Royal Military College
'For a Free and Democratic World:' the Patriotism and Politics of Bela Bartok
Session 5. Monday, May 27, 2002, 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM
Panel 5.1, The Polish Enlightenment and its impact, SS2110
Chair: John McErlean
Richard Butterwick, Modern History, Queen's University, Belfast
The Polish Revolution and the Catholic Church, 1788 - 1792
This paper compares the relative importance of traditional noble anti-clericalism, the Enlightenment, the Church's own agenda, constitutional issues, international rivalries, and individual ambitions in shaping the ecclesiastical reforms of the Four Years Sejm, which were among the most radical seen anywhere in Catholic Europe before the arrival of the French revolutionary armies
John Stanley, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto
Continuing the Enlightenment: The Polish Legions, 1795 - 1807
This paper explores the educational, scholarly, and political activities of the Polish Legion which continued the Polish Enlightenment in the absence of a Polish state, creating a link between the vanished Polish Commonwealth and Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw.
Bogna Lorence-Kot, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland
Polish a la Mode
Founded in 1800, the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning was the first 19th century institution dedicated to the promotion of the Polish language and literature. While the struggle to popularise Polish, instead of Latin and French, had its roots in the 18th century, it was in post-partition Poland that the movement gathered momentum. It was viewed as indispensable to the maintenance of Polish identity under the partitioning powers.
M. B. Biskupski, History, St John Fisher College, Rochester, NY
From Revolutionary Intelligentsia to Knights Errant: Polish Political Thought at the Close of the 19th Century
An examination of the transformation of Polish political thought's increasingly martial discourse in the last decades of the 19th century and the evolution of the radical intelligentsia from revolutionary conspirators into amateur soldiers by a self-conscious resurrection of a romanticised view of the Polish military tradition.
Panel 5.2, Russian Literature in the Nineteenth Century, SS2111
Chair: Ralph Lindheim
Larissa Bondarchuk, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
Portraying Femininity and Masculinity in Anna Karenina.
I will focus on the linguistic means used by Lev Tolstoy in his descriptions of the appearance of men and women. Tolstoy uses two distinct sets of linguistic tools in portraying his characters: diminutive forms of nouns and adjectives in describing women and 'regular' nouns and adjectives in describing men. This results in distinct portraits of 'femininity' and 'masculinity.'
Leslie O'Bell, Slavic Languages, University of Texas at Austin
The Pastoral in Turgenev's "Singers"
The pastoral was a natural approach for Turgenev to take in Sportsman's Sketches, and one which in fact underlies "The Singers." Our amnesia concerning the classics has gone so far and Turgenev's assimilation of his model was so complete, that the clearest parallels are hardly noticed. We could refer to any of Virgil's Eclogues, or their models in Theocritus' Idylls that contain the crucial element of so called "amoeban" song, the classical version of the singing contest that figures so prominently in Turgenev's story.
Inna Simonova, History, Moscow State University
The "All-Slavdom Idea" and the Slavic World
This paper is about the journeys of Fedor Vassillievich Chizhov (1811-1877), the future famous slavophile, railroad and public figure, publisher, financier and philanthropist, in the lands of the southern and western Slavs in the 1840s. He took an interest in the national liberation movements of Slavic nations in the Habsburg and Ottoman monarchies and began to develop his ideas about the special mission of Slavs in renovating the aging West.
Panel 5.3, Conference on Ukrainian Studies Meeting, SS2130
Chair: Natalia Pylypiuk and Roman Senkus
Discussion of MAU V Congress in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, August 26-29, 2002 and other issues of interest to Ukrainianists in CAS.
Panel 5.4, Teaching Russian Language, SS1080
Chair: Inga Dolinina
Jane Hacking, Languages, University of Utah
The acquisition of Russian discourse features by English speaking adult learners
This paper reports on an experimental Russian conversation course for students with advanced level proficiency in Russian. The goal of the course was to sensitize students to discourse level features (use of particles, connectors, turn-taking strategies) characteristic of native speaker interactions, and to promote appropriate integration of such features by these L2 learners.
Alfia A. Rakova, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University
Word Formation and Etymology in Teaching American Students Russian at the Intermediate Level
When students are asked to find a word root when there is no longer an easily identifiable root in the word's modern meaning, they cannot be expected to grasp an underlying relationship unless their instructor explains it to them. The instructor's role is crucial in guiding students towards meaningful morphological analysis as well as building their grammar and lexical competence.
Session 6. Monday, May 27, 2002, 10:45 AM - 12:30 PM
Panel 6.1, Polish Identity, SS2110
Chair: Marjorie Castle
Piotr Wrobel, History, University of Toronto
Poland after 1989: From old collective memory to an identity crisis?
During the last three centuries of a difficult and frequently tragic past, the Polish people developed strong collective memory. Based on a belief in Poland's uniqueness and special suffering, this civil religion helped the Poles to survive. After 1989 and 1991, the old collective memory lost its raison d'etre. The proposed paper shows how the Polish people try to reshape their identity.
Franklin Bialystok, History, University of Waterloo
In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Poles, Jews, and Communists, 1945-1949
This paper argues that the Jews who remained in Poland after the war had an identity crisis that was unsuccessfully resolved by adopting one or more of the following identities as Poles, or as Communists, or as Jews. Irrespective of the designation that Jews adopted for themselves, their efforts to revive a Jewish community in Poland failed in the shadow of the Holocaust and in the wake of the Communist monolith.
Panel 6.2, The Shklovsky Intertext, SS2111
Chair: Veronika Ambros
Megan Swift, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Hunting the Sabines: The Shklovsky Intertext in Mandelstam's "Egyptian Stamp" (1928)
Mandelstam was deeply influenced by the prose innovations of the first Soviet decade. We can trace correspondences between Shklovsky's Zoo, Or Letters Not About Love (1923) and Third Factory (1926), and Mandelstam's "Egyptian Stamp" (1928). Both artists play with the notion of the text as manuscript or first draft, inscribing editing notes and marginal doodles into the published version of their stories. Further, both employ the obscure image of the Sabine women. This paper will explore the resonances of Shklovsky's theoretical and fictional writing in Mandelstam's work.
Panel 6.3, Slavic Languages in Contact I, SS2130
Chair: Magda Stroinska
John Dingley, York University
Impersonal Constructions in Russian, Polish, and Finnish
This paper examines the dearth of impersonal (better: human-indefinite) constructions in Contemporary Standard Russian when compared to the situation in Polish and Finnish. This state of affairs is strange given that Old Russian had and the North Russian dialects still have constructions similar to those found in Polish and Finnish. A possible answer to this conundrum is attempted.
Irina Krasnova, McGill University
Funkcionirovanie russkogo jazyka v uslovijax anglojazynogo okruenija (In Russian)
American-Immigrant Colloquial Russian is subject to the lexical interference of English. Do lexical innovations resulting from language contact with English lead to language loss or language acquisition? The data for this study are taken from the mass media and literature, as well as from the speech of Russian immigrants living in North America.
Elena Bratishenko, University of Calgary
Grammatical Agreement Patterns in the Laurentian Chronicle
The paper examines variation in agreement patterns among grammatically feminine singular nouns with male individual (e.g. sud'ja 'judge'), as well as collective reference (e.g. druzhina 'military unit'). The analysis is based on the attestations in the Laurentian manuscript of 1377 and other original Old East Slavic texts and focuses on the factors influencing selection of a masculine or feminine alternative in agreement.
Inga Dolinina, McMaster University
Russian Imperative Paradigm from a Cross-linguistic Perspective
Russian grammatical tradition restricts the Imperative paradigm to 2SG/PL synthetic forms. Consequently first and second-person values like "Davaj poidu," "Pust' idet" remain outside of the paradigm. Such interpretation contradicts the cross-linguistic concept of a "mixed" imperative paradigm which covers all person values and allows periphrastic constructions.
Panel 6.4, Recent Russian Literature, SS1080
Chair: Mark Knighton
Rimma Volynska, Germanic and Slavic, University of Waterloo
The Literary Aesthetics of Lev Razgon's Prison Camp Stories
The paper examines the aesthetic elements of Lev Razgon's (1908-1999) short stories, taken from the two major collections: "Nepridumannoe," and "Plen v svoem otechestve." The emphasis is on the structural idiosynchrasies of Razgon's stories, particularly, on the device of condensation and miniaturization, which are particularly effective in Razgon's revelation of the dehumanization of life in the Gulag camps.
Kristin A. Peterson, Union College (Schenectady, NY)
A Family of Strangers: Liudmila Petrushevskaia's The Time: Night
Issues of marginality and otherness are implied in Liudmila Petrushevskaia's works, both structurally through the meeting of genres, and thematically, through the displacement of people. This paper will explore the importance of the image of the threshold in The Time: Night, as a means by which Petrushevskaia focuses on the spiritual liminality of her characters.
Elena V. Baraban, Slavonic Studies, University of Victoria
A Postmodern Cure for a Post-Soviet Fatigue: The Detective Novels by Boris Akunin
The paper examines detective fiction of the popular Russian writer Boris Akunin. Akunin's books represent a new way of thinking about the postmodern condition in Russia. Akunin's protagonists are a contrast to Soviet mainsteam characters, postmodern characters of the late Soviet period, and aggressive and nostalgic heroes of the 1990s.
Session 7. Monday, May 27, 2002, 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Panel 7.1, Political and National Concepts in Ukraine and Russia, SS2110
Chair: Bohdan Klid
Frank Sysyn, CIUS, University of Alberta
Nation in the Cossack Chronicles
The concept of natio/gens (narod) in sixteenth and early seventeenth-century Ukraine took on political significance in the struggle for the defense of the Rus' nation. In the second half of the seventeenth century, it evolved under the impact of a new social situation( the dominance of the Cossack order) and a new political order (the emergence of a Ukrainian patria or fatherland). The paper will discuss this evolution in the works of Samiilo Velychko and Hryhorii Hrabianka.
Serhii Plokhy, CIUS, University of Alberta
The Myth of Origins: The Antes Issue in Ukrainian Historiography
This paper discusses the history and meaning of the debate which took place between Ukrainian, Russian and Czech Slavicists in the late nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century. In the era of nation-building and construction of national histories and identites, a purely scholarly issue of the ethnic belonging of the ancient tribe of Antes acquired enormeous political significance. The paper focuses on the role in the debate of Mykhailo Hrushevsky (1866-1934).
Zenon Kohut, CIUS, University of Alberta
Imagining Russia: Dynastic, Historical, and Ethnic Concepts in the Early-Modern Period
From the last quarter of the seventeenth century, there were two parallel conceptions of Russia: the first, deriving from Muscovite political and historical traditions, viewed Russia as a continuous Orthodox dynastic tsardom; the second, articulated by some of the Ukrainian clergy, saw Russia as an Orthodox proto-East Slavic dynastic tsardom. Not until well into the nineteenth century did an ethno-dynastic concept of Russia enter the mainstream of Russian political and historical thought.
Panel 7.2, Polish Literature in the Twentieth Century, SS2111
Chair: Bogna Lorence-Kot
Marek Haltof, English, Northern Michigan University
Despair and Laughter: The Representation of Martial Law in Polish Cinema
The new audience in Polish cinema is tired of politics. The mood of despair and defeat present in the earliest films about martial law is now replaced by the almost farcical events of "Controlled Conversations" and "The Turned Back. These features are examined in narrative films including: Krzysztof Kieslowski's "No End", Kazimierz Kutz's "The Turned Back" and "Death as a Slice of Bread", and Sylwester Checinski's "Controlled Conversations."
Artur Placzkiewicz, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
New Perception of Reality in Bialoszewski's Poetry
Miron Bialoszewski, one of the major Polish postwar poets, stands apart from other poets of his generation because he rejects the imperative of moral and political engagement and proposes his own, private view of reality. In my paper I focus on the distinctive characteristics of his unique worldview and his specific perception of reality. This "new consciousness" is analyzed within the discourse of modernism and postmodernism, and with the help of major tensions in postmodern culture.
Svitlana Ukrayinets-Mikhalek, Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Literary Discussions in L'viv during 1929-1939
This paper examines the multicultural literary life of L'viv through an examination of the public literary discourse that took place in evening discussion meetings at the homes of Polish writers and literary critics, in the Literary Society in honor of Adam Mickiewicz, in the Philosophical Society, in the University of L'viv, and in the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists. Based primarily on the archive of Ostap Ortwin.
Panel 7.3, Slavic Languages in Contact II, SS2130
Chair: John Dingley
Valerii Polkovsky, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
Referential Gaps in the Modern Ukrainian Business Lexicon
Does Ukrainian business terminology correspond to accepted Western notions? Do we mean the same thing when we communicate on business matters? 25 respondents in Ukraine were asked to explain 26 Ukrainian business terms. All the respondents were instructors in the Economics departments of Universities. Substantial referential gaps were noted during analysis of the data.
Magda Stroinska, Modern Languages & Linguistics, McMaster University
Economic Concepts' Perception and New Markets--A Linguistic Perspective
An observation is made that the communist linguistic perspective has survived the demise of the system because language habits inherited from the past still shape the perception of economic and political concepts. A new hybrid of old propaganda and a Western style language emerged, different from the traditional Newspeek, but equally confusing.
Paul Hopkins, Independent Scholar
Authenticity vs. Innovation in the Writings of Alexander Labuda
This paper examines the linguistic norms employed by Alexander Labuda, a leader of the Kashubian "zrzeszency" literary school, comparing the conservative norm used in his feuilletons, where his goal was to entertain, with the innovative norm used in his programatic writings, where his goal was rather to ennoble Kashubian as a literary language.
Vinko Grubisic, Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Waterloo
Post-Dayton Language Policy in Bosnia and Hercegovina
The paper will provide an overview of language issues in Bosnia and Hercegovina from World War II to the disintegration of Yugoslavia: the Dayton accord and the affirmation of the three national languages--Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, the constitutional formulation on language, and language application, particularly in the realm of education policies.
Panel 7.4, Law and Society, SS1080
Chair: Nicole Jackson
Olga E. Glagoleva, CREES, University of Toronto
Secret Lives in the Legal Light: Illegitimacy in Russia According to the Law
According to parish registers, illegitimate children accounted for about 4% of all new-born children in Russia in the 18th century, and the phenomenon was not less widely spread in other periods of Russian history. The current scholarship, however, provides no clear understanding of the legal status of such children, as no research has been done on how the pertinent laws evolved throughout the centuries. The paper will examine this transformation and its effects upon some real life situations related to illegitimacy in Russia.
Christopher Waters, Law, McGill University
Informal Law in Transcaucasia
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are partly failed states. Although their Parliaments pass laws at a tremendous rate the "law on the ground" looks very different. However, the situation is not entirely chaotic. Traditional law based on reputation and networks continues to govern, even among the Westernized elite. Observations are based on field-work carried out in the region between 1998 and 2001.
Paul Robinson, University of Hull, UK
The Justification of War in Russian History and Philosophy
Western Christian just war theory is currently undergoing something of a revival. My paper will analyse whether there is an equivalent in Russian history and philosophy. I will chart a course between those who argue that Eastern Orthodoxy does not believe that war is ever a moral good (e.g. Fr. Stanley Harakas), and those who believe the opposite (e.g. Fr. Alexander Webster). Russian theories concerning the justification of war follow a philosophical tradition which differs in important ways from that in the West.
Session 8. Monday, May 27, 2002, 3:30 PM - 5:30 PMCanadian Association of Slavists
Annual General Meeting, SS2102
Dynasty Chinese Cuisine
131 Bloor Street West, 2 nd floor (Colonnade Building)
You must purchase tickets in advance.
Tickets are $40 per person.
Session 9. Tuesday, May 28, 2002, 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM
Panel 9.1, Postcommunist Poland, SS2110
Chair: Bohdan Harasymiw
Marjorie Castle, Political Science, Tulane University
Cleavage Patterns and Political Outcomes: The Case of Poland
Party systems dominated by a non-economic cleavage, particularly one that crosscuts economic policy preferences, will be less likely to mobilize resistance to neo-liberal economic policies. This hypothesis is explored in the context of Poland's post-communist economic transformation. How does a historical-cultural cleavage affect the possibilities of economic policy-making and implementation?
Ray Taras, Political Science, Tulane University
The Impact of Global Security and Economic Crises on EU Enlargement: Poland's Bid for Membership under a Postcommunist Coalition Government
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 2001 has there been a shift of policy on EU admission? In particular, is Poland's postcommunist coalition government (formed after the September 2001 parliamentary elections) committed to European integration? What conditions of the EU Enlargement Commissioner is it willing to meet? Which "Polish" conditions must the EU accept.
Panel 9.2, Tolstoy, SS211
Chair: Andrew Donskov
Jeff Love, Languages, Clemson University
What is Tolstoyan Determinism
This paper sketches out the relation of deterministic ideas to some of the fundamental temporal structures that characterize Tolstoyan narrative. Beginning with an orienting analysis of this relation in War and Peace, I proceed to examine specific aspects of it in the context of two remarkable later stories, "The Kreutzer Sonata" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich."
Paul Haddock, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
History of War and Peace and the novels of Yury Dombrovsky
"Do Tolstoy's views on history help us to understand the tragedy of Stalinism?" My paper will address this question by comparing aspects of Tolstoy's treatment of history in War and Peace with Yury Dombrovsky's in The Keeper of Antiquities and The Faculty of Useless Knowledge, two novels that closely examine the origins and spread of the Stalinist Terror.
Arkadi Kliouchanski, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Tolstoy on Contemporary Science
This paper examines L. N. Tolstoy's ideas about science during various periods of his life. It includes a brief discussion of the literature available on the subject, a report on my ongoing project in this field, and a short summary of Tolstoy's knowledge of science and its application in his works.
Discussant: Donna Tussing Orwin
Panel 9.3, Intersections of Russian Literature and Music, SS2130
Chair: Zina Gimpelevich
Nicholas Zekulin, University of Calgary
The Late Works of Ivan Turgenev as a Musical Source
This paper will examine the Symphonic Picture "The Nymphs" (1889) by Vasilii Kalinnikov (1866-1901) based on Turgenev's prose poem of the same name and Ernest Chausson's PoPme pour violon et orchestre (op. 25, 1896) inspired by Turgenev's short story "A Song of Triumphant Love." The analysis will focus on identifying which elements of the Turgenev narrative find reflection in the musical compositions they inspired and the manner in which those elements are "translated" into musical language.
Barbara Sharratt, University of Toronto
Bulgakov's Faust: Transformation of a Motif
Music played a significant part in Bulgakov's writings where references to composers and individual music pieces abound. The writer often applied musical principles of polyphony and counterpoint in his dramas and novels. This paper will trace the evolution of the musical motif of Gounod's Faust, present in Bulgakov's first major novel, into the literary motif of the Faustian legend, which becomes the structuring principle of The Master and Margarita.
Anna Makolkin, University of Toronto
The Neapolitan Opera in the Russian EmpireCimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto on the Odessa Stage
Seldom acknowledged in the history of music and culture is the role of the Italian migration to the Black Sea and the founding of the port city of Odessa. The present paper will deal with Domenico Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Secret Marriage)--an opera which outlived several tsars, revolutions, and political transformations -- on the operatic stage of Odessa. The opera is placed in the context of other Neapolitan operas, the Italian migration to Odessa and its mentorship in musical culture.Robert Karpiak, University of Waterloo and
Mary Woodside, University of Guelph
Music over Microwaves: Teaching Russian Literature and Opera by Interactive Video
This presentation will describe the experiential history of an interdisciplinary course on Masterpieces of Russian Literature and Opera designed for adaptation to the Guelph-Waterloo Educational Video Link System. The initiative of an inter-university partnership in multi-point team teaching resulted in the integration of faculty expertise in the literary and musical culture of Russia. The application of innovative methodology and technology was successful in enhancing the learning experience of a geographically dispersed student group.
Session 10. Tuesday, May 28, 2002, 10:45 AM - 12:30 PM
Panel 10.1, Contemporary Ukraine, SS2110
Chair: Ray Taras
Zenon V. Wasyliw, History, Ithaca College and Henry Steck, Political Science, SUNY Cortland
Building a Civil Society in Ukraine through its Educational System
An American Councils sponsored School Directors project introduces concepts and foundations of civic education to visiting Russian, Ukrainian and Kyrgyzstani school directors over a period of three weeks in the United States. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of the Ukrainian participation in the project. It also assesses the practical applications of civic education through the Ukrainian educational system.
Bohdan Harasymiw, Political Science, University of Calgary
The Legislative Elections in Ukraine, 2002
The paper will review the campaign leading up to, and the results of, the legislative (Verkhovna Rada or Supreme Council) elections in March 2002. It will also analyze the results in terms of the electorate's ideological position, and compare these with previous general elections to determine any significant shifts. The question of the party system's consolidation, along with the persistence of regionalism, will be addressed. Implications for politics and policy--domestic and foreign--will be spelled out.
Panel 10.2, Russian Culture, SS2111
Chair: Christopher Waters
Valeri Belianine, Moscow State University
Non-Traditional Religions in Russia: A Psycholinguistic Analysis
Various non-traditional religious groups have surfaced in post-communist Russia. This report covers their social, cultural, and psychological aspects, especially language features disclosed in the semantics, stylistics and pragmatics of their discourse.
Heather DeHaan, History, University of Toronto
The Mind of the Socialist City: Turning Professionals' Plans into Popular Vision
From 1928 to 1938, the newspapers Gor'kovskii rabochii and Gor'kovskaia kommuna printed a number of articles dealing with blagoustroistvo (urban improvement). Based on the analysis of these articles, this paper will discuss how the press served to reshape the popular perception of urban space and to foster popular identification with the idealized, planned urban constructs put together by professional elites.
Connie Wawruck-Hemmett, History, Dalhousie University
Babas and Baby-sitters: Visual Images of the Starukha in the '20s and '30s
For a number of years, scholars from a number of disciplines have focused on Soviet women; elderly women, however, have been virtually ignored. This paper seeks to encourage a more expansive dialogue regarding the starukha's position in Soviet society by demonstrating and discussing her depiction in illustrative art during the Cultural Revolution.
Panel 10.3, Contemporary Gender Issues, SS2130
Chair: Maryna Romanets
Alla Nedashkivska, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
Gender Discourse on the Net: the Case of Ukrainian
The paper analyzes questions of language and gender in electronic communication in Ukrainian. The study, delineating the overall pattern of electronic interaction, addresses questions of differences and similarities in the ways females and males express themselves on the Net. Factors that influence linguistic choices are discussed; in particular, the relationship between the speaker's point of view and its linguistic encoding.
Serhiy Kozakov, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
Gender Across Languages: Non-sexist Language Use in Russian and Ukrainian
My paper discusses various categories of gender (grammatical, lexical, referential, social) in Russian and Ukrainian and attempts to answer such questions as: How do the language structural properties affect the relations between language and gender? How is specification of an abstraction from (referential) gender achieved in the languages in focus? Are there any tendencies of variation and change towards the non-sexist language use?
Special Session, Tuesday, May 28, 2002, 1:30 PM - 4:40 PM
Second and Foreign Language Education, University College, A101
Guest speaker: Dr James Cummins, OISE
Issues and Trends in University Modern Language and Literature Departments / Nos departements de langues et de litteratures modernes: Problemes et perspectives
Visions of the Future in Modern Languages: Hearing the Voices of
Graduate Students / Visions de l'Avenir des Langues Modernes: La voix des etudiants gradues se fait entendre
Session 11. Tuesday, May 28, 2002, 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Panel 11.1, Belarus': An Interdisciplinary View, SS2110
Chair: Joanna Survilla
Iryna Lysenko, Belarusan Institute of Arts and Sciences
The influence of Belarusan on Russian language during the eighteenth century
This study deals with an impact that Belarusan had on Russian language during the XVIII c. The Belarusan vocabulary is found in Russian language en mass at those times. The process of the interaction of Belarusan and Russian languages has been analyzed on the basis of the Belarusan military and diplomatic lexical groups.
Siarhei Krycheuski, Belarusan Institute of Arts and Sciences
Belarus': Economic Reforms and Poverty
During the course of the past seven years, Belarus' has been able to show a comparatively strong economic growth. This has been a part of its government strict and centralized policies. The majority of the population in Belarus', however, is poverty-stricken, and families with children suffer consequences of new times the most.
Zina Gimpelevich, University of Waterloo
Writing a Critical Biography: Vasil' Bykau Stands Tall
Vasil' Bykau (1924-) is one of the best-known Belarusan writers: he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1995. From 1998 Byka is living in exile, hosted by PEN International. The present study deals with problems of writing his first critical biography in English.
Maria Paula Survilla, Wartburg College
Post-X Popular Music: Cohesion and Construction of Memory Through Belarusan Rock
The most prominent movement in Post-Soviet Belarus' was defined by a handful of groups specifically invested in Belarusan-language musical contributions to the cultural renaissance. In a Lukashenka-defined climate, these groups have refined their approach by consciously addressing their audience through eclectic and revealing musical collaborations that emphasize cultural cohesion.
Panel 11.2, Questions of Ukrainian Identity, SS2111
Chair: Maria Rewakowicz
Bohdan Klid, CIUS, University of Alberta
Politics, Culture and the Origins of Statist Historiography in Ukraine
The paper will focus on the origins and transition from "populist" to "statist" historiography, which coincided with debates among some of Ukraine's intellectuals on politics and culture, and political statements made in the late nineteenth century. The paper will show the relationships and connections between the ideologies and political views revealed in the debates and political statements of the period with the two historiographical trends.
Taras Koznarsky, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Zaporozhianism, Ukrainianism, and the Forging of a Ukrainian Cultural Identity in the 1830s
My presentation will focus on Sreznevsky's influential almanac-like collection of folkloric and historic sources, "Zaporozhian Antiquity" (1833-8). I will demonstrate how this scholarly and belletristic enterprise was shaped by the criterion of "nationality" and the Ukrainian fashion in Russian metropolitan culture, was produced with an Ossianic model in mind, and reflected an ideological tension between the materials in various genres.
Maxim Tarnawsky, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Nechui's Prescriptions for Ukrainian Literature
Ivan Nechui-Levyts'kyj's notorious essays on the state of Ukrainian literature and its relation to Russian literature represent both a political and a cultural dimension of Nechui's views. This paper examines these ideas in relation to Nechui's depiction of similar issues in his literary works.
Marko Robert Stech, CIUS Press
The Concept of "Personal Revolution" in Mykola Kulish's Early Plays
Mykola Kulish's plays 97 and A Commune in the Steppes are not attempts to describe the Revolutionary struggle as a process motivated by socioeconomic forces but are primarily preoccupied with subtle psychological motivations of characters for whom the Revolution reflects a personal struggle for a "new life."
Panel 11.3, Russian Literature in the Early 20th Century, SS2130
Chair: Rimma Volynska
Rolf Hellebust, University of Calgary
Things Break: Subversions of Soviet Metal Imagery in the Works of Andrei Platonov
This paper is a product of my ongoing research into metal imagery in Soviet literature. While he begins his career as an epigone of those proletarian poets such as Alexei Gastev who were the most radical proponents of the metallization of the revolutionary body, in his later works Platonov goes farther than any of the independent writers of his generation in undermining the utopian fantasies that were the cornerstone of the Soviet experiment.
Valentina G. Brougher, Slavic Languages, Georgetown University
Aleksandr Kondrat'ev's Mythopoetic Imagination: A Translator's Perspective
Aleksandr A. Kondrat'ev (1876-1967) was largely unknown to Russian readers until a volume of his prose, Sny (Dreams) was published in St. Petersburg in 1993. The volume included prose published in pre-revolutionary Russia as well as a novel, Na beregakh Yaryni (On the Banks of the Yaryn). Vladimir Toporov described this remarkable novel as "one of the crowning achievements of the 'neomythologizing' in Russian literature in the first decades of the 20th century."
Mark Knighton, German and Russian, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Fathers and Suns: The Oedipal Motif in V. I. Ivanov
This paper examines Ivanov's use of solar imagery to describe the creative relationship between himself, his wife and the poet Sergei Gorodetskii in Oedipal terms, as evidenced in his poetry of 1905-1907.
Session 12. Tuesday, May 28, 2002, 3:15 PM - 5:00 PM
Panel 12.1, Russia and the West, SS2110
Chair: Bohdan Harasymiw
Nicole Jackson, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University
Nato-Russia Relations in the Aftermath of September 11
After the September 11 terrorist attacks Russia and the West face an opportunity to develop a closer relationship based upon the need to deal with mutual threats, global terrorism, instability in Eurasia and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of transportation. My paper examines how Russian politicians, foreign policy and defence-makers perceive the evolution of the institutions which form the new Euro-Atlantic security environment as well as Russia's changing role within them.
Guy Lalande, History, St. Francis Xavier University
The Fall of Nikita S. Khrushchev as Commented in Canadian Newspapers
Based on the careful perusal of the editorial pages of c. 50 dailies for a period of two weeks following October 15, 1964, this communication will assess Khrushchev's foreign and domestic policies--his successes as well as his failures. Overall, while allowing for Khrushchev's peasant exuberance and Marxist beliefs, the editorials were quite sympathetic to the man and to his genuine attempts at reforming the Soviet system.
Panel 12.2, Recent Ukrainian Literature, SS2111
Chair: Maxim Tarnawsky
Svitlana Kobets, CREES, University of Toronto
Pilgrimage of the Soul: Christianity and Ascetic Imperative in Valerii Shevchuk's The Eye of the Abyss
In my paper I offer analysis of Valerii Shevchuk's religious thought as expressed in his novel Oko prirvy (The Eye of the Abyss). I argue that characters of this novel are modeled after several ascetic types, ranging from monks and wonderers to holy fools and stylites and discuss Shevchuk s hagiographic sources. I further argue that as Shevchuk creates his own text he debunks the canonical hagiographies on which it is based.
Mark Andryczyk, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Performance in/of Bu-Ba-Bu Texts: A Defining Characteristic of 1990s Ukrainian Culture
This paper will look at the Ukrainian literary trio known as the Bu-Ba-Bu and identify performance as a key element of their creative philosophy and an important factor in establishing the protuberant position they held in Ukrainian cultural activities of the 1990s.
Maria Rewakowicz, Rutgers University
Periphery vs. Centre: The New York Group's Poetics of Exile
This paper examines the group's exilic position and delineates the spatial relationship between a centre (Ukraine) and its periphery (emigre milieu), especially as it pertains to the issues of poetic production. I shall argue that the members of this group, despite their emigre status, were able to transcend their periphery by defining and pushing the aesthetic boundaries of Ukrainian literature. I will bring forward a handful of poems that reflect the issues of exilic 'otherness' in order to underscore the ambivalent (liminal) nature of the poets' creative situatedness.
Panel 12.3, Slavic Dialectology, SS2130
Chair: Elena Bratishenko
Christina E. Kramer, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
Modal Categories in the Macedonian Dialect of Vrbnik, Albania
The dialect spoken here belongs to the Kostur group of dialects. Most research on these dialects has focused on phonology. Little work has been published on verbal categories. Because the dialect no longer has any trace of the verbal l-forms, there is no admirative, nor are there hypothetical conditionals of the type Bi dos'ol ako imam vreme 'I would come if I had time.' In the standard language, this type of condition which is marked for both mood and status, can be contrasted with expectative conditions unmarked for status e.g. Ke dojdam ako imam vreme 'I will come if I have the time.'
Joseph Schallert, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto
The Position of the Devesilovo Dialect in the History of Bulgarian Accentuation
Since Literary Bulgarian and the vast majority of contemporary dialects have only an uninflected post-posed article, one of the more obscure points in the historical development of Bulgarian accentuation is the position of stress in the oblique case forms of the paradigm. The present paper provides a diachronic analysis of the comparatively detailed, but only recently available data on this topic from the Devesilovo district in the southeastern Rhodope region.