M. V. Dmitriev

Ukraine and Russia

The book under discussion is interesting and important in two respects: firstly, as a collection of scholarly research devoted to an extremely timely but very poorly studied problem; secondly, as a very effective stimulus to a critical understanding of the stereotypes which have accompanied the study of RussianUkrainian relations during the years when many historians of Europe and North America, particularly historians of Ukrainian origin, considered it their civic, national or simply human duty to serve the political and cultural independence of Ukraine, or, at minimum, the preservation of its cultural and national identity. The past several years have radically altered the situation. Thus one of the important questions that has been raised by the current situation in UkrainianRussian relations is whether historians will be able to make a positive contribution to the organization of a new, equal, unbiased and non-hostile dialogue between the two societies and their intellectuals. The difficulties that stand in the way of mutual understanding (to say nothing of agreement!) are quite numerous. It will be extremely difficult to overcome them, as one can surmise from certain articles in this volume. But, regardless of the difficulty and length of such a dialogue, it would be a most unforgivable error to reject it. Therefore, this article should be considered not only as a review, but also as an attempt to understand the possible starting positions on certain questions concerning the history of Ukrainian-Russian relations, and, also, to test approaches which might possibly, in my opinion, be either productive or unproductive. It is important to bear in mind that the book in question consists of materials from a conference held in the early 1980s. Of course, today it reads differently than it would have ten years ago. But, on the other hand, the very obsolescence of some articles reveals the importance of the present situation. The attainment of Ukrainian state independence and the rise of completely new conditions for a Ukrainian-Russian dialogue enable us to see just what may be possible or even necessary to reject in aspiring toward an objective and impartial understanding of the history of conflicts and ties between the two countries.

«Être catholique» et «Être Français» dans certains textes de la fin du xvie siècle

L’etat de la recherche sur la genese des discours nationaux identitaires permer de supposer qu’il existe un lien qui n’a pas encore ete reconnu entre les particularites du christianisme medieval occidental et la naissance des conceptions modernes et contemporaines du «national». L’article aborde cette question a partir de certains textes des «ligueurs» et «politiques» francais de la fin du xvie siecle, en posant cette question: comment se contruisent les liens entre «etre Francais» et «etre catholique» dans les discours nationaux identitaires de la culture francaise de la fin du xvie siecle — en comparaison avec «etre Russe» et «etre orthodoxe» dans la Russie moscovite? L’analyse montre qu’en France de la fin du xvie siecle, a la difference de la Russie moscovite de la meme epoque, les discours sur l’identite chretienne n’entrent pas en conflit avec les discours sur l’identite nationale (ou proto-nationale).