Background
Slezkine, Yuri was born on February 7, 1956 in Moscow. Came to United States, 1983. Son of Lev Y. and Karma M. (Goldstein) Slezkine.
( This masterwork of interpretative history begins with a...)
This masterwork of interpretative history begins with a bold declaration: The Modern Age is the Jewish Age--and we are all, to varying degrees, Jews. The assertion is, of course, metaphorical. But it underscores Yuri Slezkine's provocative thesis. Not only have Jews adapted better than many other groups to living in the modern world, they have become the premiere symbol and standard of modern life everywhere. Slezkine argues that the Jews were, in effect, among the world's first free agents. They traditionally belonged to a social and anthropological category known as "service nomads," an outsider group specializing in the delivery of goods and services. Their role, Slezkine argues, was part of a broader division of human labor between what he calls Mercurians-entrepreneurial minorities--and Apollonians--food-producing majorities. Since the dawning of the Modern Age, Mercurians have taken center stage. In fact, Slezkine argues, modernity is all about Apollonians becoming Mercurians--urban, mobile, literate, articulate, intellectually intricate, physically fastidious, and occupationally flexible. Since no group has been more adept at Mercurianism than the Jews, he contends, these exemplary ancients are now model moderns. The book concentrates on the drama of the Russian Jews, including émigrés and their offspring in America, Palestine, and the Soviet Union. But Slezkine has as much to say about the many faces of modernity--nationalism, socialism, capitalism, and liberalism--as he does about Jewry. Marxism and Freudianism, for example, sprang largely from the Jewish predicament, Slezkine notes, and both Soviet Bolshevism and American liberalism were affected in fundamental ways by the Jewish exodus from the Pale of Settlement. Rich in its insight, sweeping in its chronology, and fearless in its analysis, this sure-to-be-controversial work is an important contribution not only to Jewish and Russian history but to the history of Europe and America as well.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691127603/?tag=2022091-20
( Siberia has no history of independent political existen...)
Siberia has no history of independent political existence, no claim to a separate ethnic identity, and no clear borders. Yet, it could be said that the elusive country 'behind the Urals' is the most real and the most durable part of the Russian landscape. For centuries, Siberia has been represented as Russia's alter ego,as the heavenly or infernal antithesis to the perceived complexity or shallowness of Russian life. It has been both the frightening heart of darkness and a fabulous land of plenty; the 'House of the Dead' and the realm of utter freedom; a frozen wasteland and a colourful frontier; a dumping ground for Russia's rejects and the last refuge of its lost innocence. The contributors to Between Heaven and Hell examine the origin, nature, and implications of these images from historical, literary, geographical, anthropological, and linguistic perspectives. They create a striking, fascinating picture of this enormous and mysterious land.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312060726/?tag=2022091-20
(Book annotation not available for this title. Title: Arct...)
Book annotation not available for this title. Title: Arctic Mirrors Author: Slezkine, Yuri Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Publication Date: 1996/10/01 Number of Pages: Binding Type: PAPERBACK Library of Congress: 93048466
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historian linguist translator university professor
Slezkine, Yuri was born on February 7, 1956 in Moscow. Came to United States, 1983. Son of Lev Y. and Karma M. (Goldstein) Slezkine.
Bachelor, Master of Arts, Moscow State University, 1978. Doctor of Philosophy, University Texas, 1989.
He is a professor of Russian history and Director of the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known as the author of the book The Jewish Century (2004). He originally trained as an interpreter in Moscow State University.
His first trip outside the Soviet Union was in the late 1970s when he found work as a translator in Mozambique.
He returned to Moscow to serve as a translator of Portuguese, and spent 1982 in Lisbon before emigrating to Austin, Texas the next year. He is currently a West. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow at Stanford University"s Hoover Institution.
Slezkine characterizes the Jews (alongside other groups such as the Armenians, overseas Chinese, Gypsies) as a Mercurian people "specializ exclusively in providing services to the surrounding food-producing societies," which he characterizes as Apollonians. This division is, according to him, recurring in pre-20th century societies.
With the exception of the Gypsies, these "Mercurian peoples" have all enjoyed great socioeconomic success relative to the average among their hosts, and have all, without exception, attracted hostility and resentment.
A recurring pattern of the relationship between Apollonians and Mercurian people is that the social representation of each group by the other is symmetrical, for instance Mercurians see Apollonians as brutes while Apollonians see Mercurians as effeminate. Mercurians develop a culture of "purity" and "national myths" to cultivate their separation from the Apollonians, which allows them to provide international services (intermediaries, diplomacy) or services that are taboo for the local Apollonian culture (linked to death, magic, sexuality or banking).
( This masterwork of interpretative history begins with a...)
( Siberia has no history of independent political existen...)
(Book annotation not available for this title. Title: Arct...)
Slezkine develops this thesis by arguing that the Jews, the most successful of these Mercurian peoples, have increasingly influenced the course and nature of Western societies, particularly during the early and middle periods of Soviet Communism, and that modernity can be seen as a transformation of Apollonians into Mercurians.
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member American History Association (progressive committee, 1995), American Association Advancement Slavic Studies (board directors).
Married Lisa C. Little, November 21, 1984. 1 child, Peter A.