Under Russian eyes
This commentary examines foreign correspondents in Edwardian Britain. Isaak Shklovsky was probably the best-known expert on contemporary Britain in the pre-war Russian press, but he was by no means the only foreign correspondent to reveal the country from the inside out to Russian readers. Many Russ...
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| Published in: | TLS, the Times Literary Supplement the Times Literary Supplement, 2014-11 (5826), p.17-19 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This commentary examines foreign correspondents in Edwardian Britain. Isaak Shklovsky was probably the best-known expert on contemporary Britain in the pre-war Russian press, but he was by no means the only foreign correspondent to reveal the country from the inside out to Russian readers. Many Russian periodicals, from metropolitan monthly reviews to provincial newspapers, sent their own correspondents abroad or used the services of freelancers who happened to be in Britain for reasons of their own - educational, political, or otherwise. Some of these correspondents spent just a couple of years in the country; others lived out the majority of their lives there. Some correspondents travelled the British Isles, including Ireland, and were able to write vividly about the peculiarities of different inhabitants and popular stereotypes. But the correspondents were equally sensitive to the presence of other nationalities, especially in multi-ethnic London. The multinational confraternity of foreign correspondents was primarily based in London, but it radiated versions of Britishness outwards for consumption by readers in both hemispheres of the globe. The periodical contributions and book-length compilations of correspondents such as Shklovsky, taken together with their letters, diaries, personal papers, thus constitute a vast and untapped resource, a unique window onto late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British culture. (Quotes from original text) |
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| ISSN: | 0307-661X 2517-7729 |