Book review: Oirotia in the Mirror of literature: an anthology. E. P. Chinina, T. P. Shastina (Eds.). Gorno-Altaysk, Poligrafika, 2020, 308 p.

Abstract

The anthology under review is a collection of journalistic, literary, and academic texts in Russian and Altai that appeared in local and central periodicals and textbooks and poetic anthologies published in Moscow and various Siberian cities. The chronological period of the anthology covers the entire period of the Oyrot Autonomous Oblast existence: from 1922 to 1948. These years brought significant changes to the region: the mass spread of literacy, the Altai literature’s appearance, and the standard Altai language development. The anthology shows the formation and evolution of the image of Oyrotia, a national Soviet autonomy. The essays, articles, and poems collected under one cover reflect the perception of Oyrotia by different authors: local Altaians, travelers, writers, and journalists. The Oyrot Autonomous Oblast continued to exist until 1948 and was later renamed. The renaming order closes the anthology. A review article by T. P. Shastina, written in a deeply analytical manner, opens the book, tracing the image of Altai in documentary literature and literary fiction up to E. Limonov’s Book of Water and V. Sorokin’s Telluria. The book is provided with a dictionary, with five appendixes containing Altai lexis (old words and words found in Russian text), Siberian lexis, obsolete words, lists of persons, and texts sources. The photos from the State Archive of the Altai Republic are used as illustrations. This anthology is considered to be significant not only for Gorny Altai but also for the whole of Russia, being equally valuable for experts and readers interested in the history and culture of Gorny Altai.