Histoire croisée of «Slavic reciprocity»

Abstract

The model of cultural transfer, which came from comparative literary studies, is now applied to a wide range of borrowings (adaptations) of institutions, ideas and practices. In other words, the dissemination of the new term in the spirit of the theory which explains it should be seen as the result of intersectoral and transnational transfer. In addition, its propagandists note the difficulties in adapting of the borrowing in the Russian scientific tradition. The migration of the term beyond literary criticism led to different interpretations. The theoretical grounds of the transfer model differ in terms of the recognized conflict and hierarchy of the cultural space, as well as its dependence on economic (political) dominance. Differences are revealed in comparing the cultural transfer with adjacent theoretical constructions (the ideas of Y. M. Lotman, P. Casanova, F. Moretti). «Slavic reciprocity» in the light of such a paradigm can be viewed as a result of a multidirectional transfer (and I. G. Herder became the most significant adapter) or a number of re-inventions. This complicated understanding of the dynamics of multiple processes corresponds more closely to the «histoire croisée» (intertwined, intersecting, related history). In the second part of the article the author, relying on A. N. Robinson’s comparative study and some amendments to its methodology, demonstrates the probable sources of the Herder’s Slavic characterology. They are found in the Slavic historiography of the late Renaissance, Baroque and early Enlightenment, when there already was an intensive interchange. As shown in the article, institutional initiatives of Kollar’s «literary reciprocity» also relied on that available, rapidly spreading and mutated experience.