S.A. Vengerov: The identity of literary scholarship in late imperial Russia

Semen Afanasevich Vengerov, a bio-bibliographer, editor and critic, was a key player in the institutionalization of academic literary study in late imperial Russia. A vital part of this process was the symbolic work of literary scholarship's self-representation, a construction of its identity as a cultural practice and the negotiation of its position as a professional field in the broader cultural and social context. The article examines these developments by analysing representations of Vengerov as a scholar and by offering a reading of Vengerov's introductions to his two most important publications: the Kritiko-biograficheskii slovar and the edition of Pushkin's complete works.