Re: Does anyone know...?

Peter Smagorinsky (psmagorinsky who-is-at ou.edu)
Sat, 31 Aug 96 14:36:46 -0500

Boris's message prompted me to reach for my copy of Yaroshevsky's *Lev
Vygotsky* (Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1989) where I found that Lewin says
"Although I had person contacts with Vygotsky during two weeks only, he left
an indelible impression on me" (p. 26). According to Yaroshevsky Vygotsky
had "very friendly relations with Kurt Lewin, but he nevertheless sharply
criticised Lewin's intepretation of the connection between affect and
intellect after their face-to-face discussions of these problems" (pp.
26-7). This meeting took place when Lewin stopped in Moscow while returning
to Germany from a lecture tour in China. In this account there's no mention
of Bluma Volfovna Zeigarnick. Yaroshevsky later says that Vygotsky engaged
in "acute polemics" with Lewin along with Thorndike, Kohler, Freud, Piaget,
and Buhler (much of this in *Thinking and Speech*).

I've recommended this splendid volume in the past, and do so again. I'm not
sure how to buy a copy in the US.

Peter

At 11:01 AM 8/31/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear Alfred, in the late 80 (during perestroika") a well-known historian of
>psychology in the former Soviet Union, Michael Yaroshevsky published an
>interview with Bluma Volfovna Zeigarnick. This interview was later translated
>into English and published in the periodical "Soviet Psychology" (edited by
>Michael Cole). I do not have it at hand and cannot give you the exact data (I
>read this interview in Russian, anyway). In this interview Bluma discussed
>her personal experiences with both Lewin and Vygogtsky. You are right: she
>was the unique link between those two giants of modern psychology. This
>interview is a wealth of information for everyone interested in their (V. &
>L.) relationships. Boris Gindis
>
>
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psmagorinsky who-is-at ou.edu