English Studies in Imperial Russia: New Monographs by I. R. Chikalova

This review is devoted to examination of two new monographs written by famous Byelorussian researcher I.R. Chikalova. The monographs are devoted to consideration of the main trends in the interpretation of the British historical experience in the Russian Empire in the 19th - early 20th c. The review notes that the study undertaken by I.R. Chikalova has no analogues and gives detailed picture of the English studies in pre-revolutionary Russia. Russian historians succeeded in portraying a wide-ranging image of Britain in the intellectual space of Russian Empire and in recreating of a complex picture of construing of ideas and knowledge of Britain and, more broadly, of British Empire, in Russia. The author also examined the works of non-English foreign researchers devoted to British history and culture. She focused her attention on history and culture of British settlement colonies in Canada, Australia and New Zealand which got the status of dominions. Materials gathered and considered by Chikalova give opportunity for continuation and deepening investigations of pre-revolutionary British studies in Russia because it demonstrates the huge layer of literature which needs to be reread and reinterpreted.