Kolonitskii, Boris (Ivanovich)

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, doctor of sciences.

ADDRESSES: Office—Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 7 Petrozavodskaya St., St. Petersburg 197110, Russia; European University at St. Petersburg, 3 Gagarinskaya St., St. Petersburg 191187 Russia. E-mail—kolon@eu.spb.ru.

CAREER: Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, senior research associate; European University, St. Petersburg, Russia, professor of history. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, visiting professor in history.

AWARDS, HONORS: Volkswagen Foundation scholarship, 1992 and 1995; East European scholarship, Trinity College, 1994-95; Kennan Institute grant, 1998; George Soros Foundation grant, 1999-2000.

WRITINGS:

(With N. N. Smirnov) Intelligentsiia i rossiiskoe obshchstvo v nachale XX veka, Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk (St. Petersburg, Russia), 1996.

(With N. N. Smirnov) Istorik i revoliutsiaa, Dmitrii Bulanin (St. Petersburg, Russia), 1999.

(With Orlando Figes) Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1999.

Pogony i bor'ba za vlast' v 1917 godu, Ostrov (St. Petersburg, Russia), 2001.

Simvoly vlasti i bor'ba za vlast': k izucheniiu politicheskoi kultury rossiiskoi revoliutsii 1917 goda, Institut rossiiskoi istorii (St. Petersburg, Russia), 2001.

Kritika, member of editorial board.

SIDELIGHTS: Russian historian Boris Kolonitskii is the coauthor of Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917. In the work, Kolonitskii, a senior research associate at the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, and Orlando Figes "explore how language shaped, and was shaped by, the collapse of the Tsarist autocracy and the ensuing struggle for political power," remarked a critic in American Historical Review.

In Interpreting the Russian Revolution the authors define language broadly, referring not only to speech and written text but also to flags, emblems, songs, parades, banners, monuments, body language, and dress, and they conclude "that the often-neglected struggles played out in popular culture—via rumors, jokes, flag waving and singing—had significant impacts on political events in Russia," according to a critic in Publishers Weekly.

Kolonitskii and Figes also give "a fascinating picture of how deeply the people rejected the old order," observed Library Journal contributor Robert H. Johnston. Using evidence from films, newspapers, and postcards, the co-authors show the level of disdain that the Russian people felt for the monarchy. Reviewing Interpreting the Russian Revolution in the Historian, Dimitry Shlapentokh remarked, "These authors demonstrate, quite convincingly, that the tsar was rejected not because he represented the monarchical institution, but rather because he was seen as being weak and indulgent." Shlapentokh added that Kolonitskii and Figes "provide important insight into 1917."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June, 2002, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917.

Contemporary Review, June, 2000, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 333.

Historian, winter, 2001, Dimitry Shlapentokh, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 448.

Library Journal, September 1, 1999, Robert H. Johnston, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 209.

Publishers Weekly, August 23, 1999, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 31.

Slavic Review, fall, 2000, Donald Raleigh, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 678.

Slavonic and East European Review, October, 2000, Christopher Read, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 778.

Times Higher Education Supplement, September 15, 2000, S. A. Smith, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 28.

Times Literary Supplement, March 24, 2000, George Walden, review of Interpreting the Russian Revolution, p. 6.