I have in my hands a very original and unusual edition - A. A. Tokarev. "Portuguese studies in the USSR and Russia. O portugalistike i portugalistakh " - (Moscow, Vse Mir, 2014, 184 p., with fig.).

For the first time in our country, an attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive overview of the work of scientists and practitioners of various humanitarian fields: linguists, translators, teachers, historians, international journalists, etc.who work with the Portuguese language or use Portuguese-language materials and sources. If, for example, "Anglophony "and" Francophony "are well researched and abound in historiographical works, then" Lusophony " * is practically an unexplored area. It is even less well known to the general reader.

A. A. Tokarev-Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Center for South African Countries at the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences-has an excellent command of Portuguese, teaches it, worked as a military translator; author of a number of monographs and articles on the problems of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa ¹.

The book is unusual in its genre. It consists of 10 chapters covering many areas of science related in one way or another to the use of the Portuguese language. These are the history of Portugal itself, Brazil, and the former Portuguese colonial possessions in Africa and Asia; educational and reference literature, works on linguistics (this section is a good help for those who want to learn Portuguese, both scientists and tourists); translated fiction; memoirs.

These very informative chapters are supplemented by articles by A. A. Tokarev himself. It is very important to note that an attempt is made to trace the history of Portuguese studies in our country from the time of pre-revolutionary Russia to the present day and the author's thoughts on its future. This is the subject of the chapters "On Portugalists and Portugalists in pre-revolutionary Russia and the USSR" (starting with the introduction of Russian society to the poetry of L. de Camoens, the great Portuguese poet of the Middle Ages).-

* Lusofonia (Portuguese) - in a broad sense, the Portuguese-speaking population in countries such as Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, and East Timor.

kov) and "On the Portuguese studies of our days".

The sections not only indicate published works on these issues, but also describe (sometimes unnecessarily briefly) their authors, preserving for the younger generation the memory of the pioneers of Portuguese studies in our country. A. A. Tokarev did not set out to create a complete bibliography of their works, but each of the chapters gives an almost complete overview of publications on a particular topic. another problem.

Another important section, which is very useful for historians of science and for future Portuguese and Oriental scholars, is "Dissertation Research", which presents in chronological order all candidate and doctoral theses on all problems of Portuguese studies in our country.

Specialists in the history of Portugal and Brazil, professional literary translators, teachers of the Portuguese language and practitioners will undoubtedly give their own (I am sure very positive) assessment of this book. Its chapters are very informative. Thus, the author's collected works on the history of Portugal cover the period from the Roman Empire to the present day; from political parties to calendar customs and traditional cuisine. The same can be said for the chapter on Brazil: These are books and articles from the description of the discovery of the country and the journey of the first Russian, G. I. Langsdorf, who studied this distant country at the beginning of the XIX century, to its participation in the British Museum; from folk tales to complex philosophical works.

However, for the readers of our magazine, perhaps the most important two chapters are "Exploring the former possessions of Portugal in Africa and Asia "and"Memoiristics". Of great interest (unfortunately, not often attracted by Orientalists) is translated fiction, which provides a lot for understanding the mentality, everyday life, and traditions of a particular people. And, of course, the publication of articles by the author himself, who worked in Angola, Sao Tome and Principe with various delegations from Portuguese-speaking countries, is also important. The author draws readers 'attention to infrequent works about the" small " Portuguese colonial possessions-Goa, Macao, Cape Verde, which is very important, since they often fall outside the interests of orientalists.

In the section about the former possessions of Portugal in Asia and Africa, A. A. Tokarev has collected an impressive collection of publications that introduce our readers to almost all aspects of their life - history, geography, economy, etc. He begins with the first publications in encyclopedic publications (from the first, published in 1963, to the last, prepared recently by the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences)². Unfortunately, the two-volume "Myths and Religions of the Peoples of the World"³ and small articles, reference books, and major works of venerable Africanists are not mentioned.

The title "Memoiristics", in my opinion, does not quite correspond to the content of the chapter. It could have been wider. The book provides information on only one aspect of the activities of participants in providing political and military assistance to the African Portuguese colonies at different stages of the struggle for independence.

This is a very important and timely topic, but there were also memories of diplomats, journalists, civilian specialists (doctors, teachers, etc.) who worked in Angola and Mozambique. True, only a few of them have written about their work in these countries, but there are some who are still alive and may still share their impressions, and their notes will be included in the next edition of this undoubtedly interesting and important book. Russian translations of publications by major African leaders, such as A. Cabral (Cape Verde, Guinea - Bissau), E. Mondlane (Mozambique), and A. Neto (Angola), are also" asking " for this section.

Separately, we should focus on the design of the book. It is richly illustrated. The reader will not only learn about the existence of a particular work on the problem that interests him, but also see what it looks like. Stories about Portuguese authors are accompanied (unfortunately, not always) by their photos. There are many other photos (author's, from personal archives) that are published for the first time. They give a special authenticity to the text.

Time passes, new works appear, and it is hoped that A. A. Tokarev will continue this important work of "gathering" and "enlightenment". I would like the new edition to also mention the works of non-Portuguese Africanists who actively used Portuguese-language sources. The author names A. Z. Zusmanovich, I. N. Oleynikov and others, but there were others: for example, the books of A. S. Orlova " History of the State of the Congo. XVI-XVII centuries" (Moscow, 1968) and O. S. Tomanovskaya " Loango, Kakongo and Ngoyo. Historical and ethnographic essay" (Moscow, 1980), large sections about Portuguese travelers in the collective monograph "History of Discovery and Exploration of Africa" ⁴, etc.

As mentioned, dan ho-

the largest and almost complete list of translations into Russian of fiction. However, it was unexpected that there was no mention of translations of historical documents published in the three-volume "History of Africa in Documents" ⁵, and there are also translations of A. A. Tokarev himself.

Maybe it would be worth clarifying the structure of the work. The section "Memoiristics" has already been mentioned above. Reference books by country would look more logical in the chapter "Educational and reference literature" (in this edition, the author gives only linguistic works here).

The author defined the goals of his work as follows: to give a general picture of the development of Portuguese studies in our country; to facilitate the work of Portuguese colleagues by giving them a bibliography of works in this scientific field; to preserve in our memory people who have done a lot to study both the Portuguese language and the history of Portuguese-speaking countries (from Brazil to Macao and Portuguese Guinea).

We can safely say that these goals have been achieved.

E. S. LVOVA, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University

¹ See, for example: Sao Tome and Principe (et al.). Moscow, 1986; FNLA in the anti-colonial struggle and civil war in Angola. М, 2006; Acerca de um ideal nao realizado dos Portugueses em Africa. Santiago de Compostela, 2000; War in Angola: a Soviet Dimension (co-authored). L., 2001.

² Africa. Moscow, Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. 1, 2, 1963; Afrika. Moscow, Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. 1, 2. 1987; Afrika. Encyclopedia. IAfr RAS. Vol. 1, 2. 2010. (2010. Africa. Encilopaedia. Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. M.) (in Russian)

³ Mifi narodov mira [Myths of the peoples of the world]. Moscow, Bolshaya Rossiiskaya entsiklopediya, Vol. 1-2, 2000.

^{Gornung M. B., Lipetsk Yu. G., Oleynikov I. N.} 4 Istoriya otkrytiya i issledovaniya Afrika [History of Discovery and Research in Africa]. Moscow, Mysl', 1973.

⁵ The history of Africa in documents. In 3 volumes, Moscow, Nauka, 2005, 2007. (2005, 2007. Istoriya Afriki v dokumentakh. M.) (in Russian)

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