Historiographic Reflections in the Field of the Bitsilli Studies

Abstract

The article examines the monograph by the Israeli historian M. Birman “P. Bitsilli (1879– 1953). Life and Work”, which offers “a consolidated review of life and work” by the Russian and Bulgarian scholar and humanist Peter Bitsilli. It is noted that the monograph was written in the genre of intellectual biography, conventional for historiography, when the personal life and creative activities of the investigated historical figure are closely intertwined with broad cultural and historical contexts of the era. The article emphasizes that in contrast to the biographies of people of the past widespread in the scholarly literature, this narrative centres around a historical person, whose name remained in oblivion for more than half a century after his death, both in academic sphere and in historical memory. Despite the fact that the book poses many questions about the daily life and intellectual activity of a scholar, it does not provide the answers on the basis of research methods. It is not grounded on a rich source base; similarly to many other modern studies, the book is lacking in the information related to the considerable surviving number of archival documents, the materials of which would give answers to many questions regarding the biography of P. Bitsilli. Despite some shortcomings, omissions in the presentation of the material in the book, many questions posed for the first time by the author have been addressed and arouse genuine interest. One of the characteristic features of the reviewed work is its bibliographic component.