Hello Everyone, (a long note, so I apologize in advance)
Thank you for such interesting discussions and papers over the last months.
I feel extremely inadequate in saying much right now, and I really hope that more Russian colleagues will contribute to the discussion on perezhivanie, such as Anna S., Sasha S., Natalie G., E. Matusov, so many more, and friends like Peter Moxhay; and, I hope you will help all of us to better understand this term, as it is so important for us collectively.
Okay, the history of my interest in Bozhovich came from trying to understand perezhivanie, when Akhutina,Glozmann, Moskovich and I were putting together a book: Festschrift Celebrating the Centennial of the Birth of Luria (2002). There were so many words that I could not really understand. At that time, I wrote to approx. ten people around the world asking for their definitions of perezhivanie. Unfortunately, I did not save all of that. But, it led me to Bozhovich, a most remarkable woman, and a person loyal to Vygotsky in very difficult times. In those early discussions, it was clear that perezhivanie is difficult to understand for us outside of Russia, because it really captures the "Russian soul" in so many ways. What I understood (and if I am wrong, please correct me), was that there is an "intensity, pain, sorrow [Russian]" involved in perezhivanie, and it is a type of "unity" of affect/cognition with so many other things, forming a "unit" ( of analysis) for Vygotsky
(at one point in his life). Van der Veer (in Chaiklin, 2001, p. 103) states: "The concept of perezhivanie captures the ideas of analysis in units rather than elements....[It] also captures the idea of development by insisting on the ever-changing character of interpretations or emotional experiences (which are also dependent on changing word meaning, another of Vygotsky's units of analysis).
Before telling you my thoughts, while working on the Bozhovich issue of the Journal of Russian and East Europan Psychology Vol. 42/4, T. Akhutina interviewed N. N. Tolstykh on Bozhovich, and I will send that DVD to Peter S. I also came into contact with Maria Neimark, who worked with Bozhovich. I could try and find out if she is still with us [alive], if anyone is interested. She sent me a book in English called Personality Orientation, which I will also send to Peter S. One other thing, Vladislav Lektorsky gave a great lecture at Rubtscov's university in 2003, where he speaks about perezhivania. Sasha was in charge of a wonderful series of lectures of well-known Russian psychologists, offered to the public in Moscow. I am sure Sasha has a much better video of that lecture than I do, and I feel sure that Dr. Lektorsky's words would be of great meaning to many in the Western world (it is always a question of obtaining funding for such translations. I have so many hours of
lectures of Russian psychologists, but, no funding for translations). And, Anna Prikhozhan (a close colleague of Bozhovich) has written a recent article on perezhivanie. I have E-mailed to her, asking for a copy so that it could be translated. Sasha, you could be of great help with this, if you see her at RGGY? Thanks. And, relating to F. Vasilyuk...there are no words to express my extreme gratitude and happiness that his name will soon be known in the West. His ideas are spoken of so often, and just an aside comment...I was told that he just finished his his doctorate at Moscow State University a few weeks ago, and that it was a truly joyous event.
I have wanted to see his works in English for some time, and was hoping the Journal of Russian and East European Psychology would publish parts of his book Methodological Analysis in Psychology. I was so hoping to interview him, as he is a major voice in Russian psychology of this generation. Surely, all of this will happen some way, and it makes me very happy. I so hope people will also read the ideas of Andrey Puzyrei in the same journal.
Okay, we are all looking forward to ISCAR in September 2008, and I would like to say this as something I am not sure is appropriate....if some people are not coming with their spouses, and have funding to come to the conference, it would be great if you could pay for an extra bed or room, to help support international colleagues/students wanting so much to attend the conference, but who cannot pay for lodging. Thanks for that thought.You would also be able to get to know someone from a different part of the world, interested in your thoughts.
Well, I am so happy that the butterfly is the symbol of the 2008 ISCAR conference....if my paper is accepted, I hope to speak about a new discourse for the 21st century, which I call "still point transformation," and that symbol is indeed the butterfly. This brings me back to perezhivanie....To be clear, having been born in the last century, I often fall on my face in total disgrace with a "clinging" dialogue, and dialogue of definitions, instead of transformation....examples of my failures: November 2006 in Moscow (and many of you will know what I am saying)...or, being contacted per E-mail to try and define my position, or to create concrete definitions of things; again, I often fail when faced with these things [I feel are from the discourse of the last century]. It is the problem of trying to describe verbs by using nouns only, but never really using verbs, becoming 'verbs'....it is the problem of trying to prove one's theory, and using case studies, and offering
definitions, but not trying to Radically change one's self and trying to really "light the torch of motivation" of those around us....so, perezhivanie for me is an anchor in the fluidity of life, it represents a type of synthesis (not a concrete unity of analysis), but an anchor within the fleeting times we have on this earth, dedicated to internal transformation and involvement in our world (which is truly suffering, e.g. Africa, Pakistan, Iraq, children hungry everywhere). The one plea I have is for us to return to a deeper understanding of Spinoza (and to an appreciation of all art).....Now, Spinoza is tricky, because some people start to think of religion, others related to determinism; and, others relate to wholism, and this sometimes leads to totaliarism. I am extremely grateful to a number of people for including Spinioza in our dialogue, such as Fernanda (Brazil) and her team, Wolfgang (Germany), Vesa Oittinen (Finland), and others....
We need to have an individual, singluar vision of what we want to leave as a legacy on this earth. Of course, my interests are in a genetic-development approach, and that has much to do with language, and how language shapes our lives internally/extermally. For me personally, V. Zinchenko is a real light...He states : "Internal, is, in fact, not a concomitant condition that particpates in determination of behaviour, but rather a source of free behaviour, free action." I believe in the "win-win" situation Lois Holzman alluded to long ago. I can only say to you personally that I will be retiring very early, to be able to help others, to realize my inner conviction, and to use the concept of perezhivanie in an way that helps me to develop.
Dot Robbins
http://www.webaby-corp.com/home_zen_fire_tale.htm
The Russian language has preserved a lot of magic, almost as much as Sanskrit. In Russian it sounds like "perezhivanie". What does it mean? It is a state of mind in which we are excited, worried, nervous, suffering from something. Something to that effect. And if we look at the corresponding verb "perezhivat'", we will see two stems: "pere" and "zhivat' ".
… "Zhivat' " - means "to live". And "perezhivat' " means to be able to survive after some disaster has overwhelmed you - over-live something.
And "pere" means carrying something over something, letting something pass beneath and overleaping it. "Pere" - means something like cutting out a piece of space, time or feeling.
"Pereterpet' " - ("terpet' " - to endure some pain) means to live until a time when no pain is left.
"Pereprignut' "- exactly like English overleap means to overcome some obstacle - a pit or a stone - with a jump, meaning that you don't walk on it, but in some way fly over it.
And, in just the same way, "perezhivat' " means, if you look at it closely, that you have passed as if above something that had made you feel pain. And the fact that in the base of each "again living" lies a Pain - you know that. There, inside of a recollection that we call an "again living" - lives your Pain. It is the pain that doesn't let you forget what has happened. And you keep on coming back to it in your memory, keep living through it over and over again, until you discover that you have passed through it, and have survived.
With best wishes to all of you,
Dot
P.S.
http://www.webaby-corp.com/home_zen_fire_tale.htm
The Russian language has preserved a lot of magic, almost as much as Sanskrit. In Russian it sounds like "perezhivanie". What does it mean? It is a state of mind in which we are excited, worried, nervous, suffering from something. Something to that effect. And if we look at the corresponding verb "perezhivat'", we will see two stems: "pere" and "zhivat' ".
… "Zhivat' " - means "to live". And "perezhivat' " means to be able to survive after some disaster has overwhelmed you - over-live something.
And "pere" means carrying something over something, letting something pass beneath and overleaping it. "Pere" - means something like cutting out a piece of space, time or feeling.
"Pereterpet' " - ("terpet' " - to endure some pain) means to live until a time when no pain is left.
"Pereprignut' "- exactly like English overleap means to overcome some obstacle - a pit or a stone - with a jump, meaning that you don't walk on it, but in some way fly over it.
And, in just the same way, "perezhivat' " means, if you look at it closely, that you have passed as if above something that had made you feel pain. And the fact that in the base of each "again living" lies a Pain - you know that. There, inside of a recollection that we call an "again living" - lives your Pain. It is the pain that doesn't let you forget what has happened. And you keep on coming back to it in your memory, keep living through it over and over again, until you discover that you have passed through it, and have survived.
Dorothy (Dot) Robbins
Professor of German
Russian Orphanage Vyschgorod
www.vygotsky-robbins.com
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Received on Sat Dec 1 18:07 PST 2007
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