BETWEEN ATTRACTION AND CONTEMPT: VASILIY SIROTENKO AS A PROVINCIAL HISTORIAN

Abstract

In this review of a book dedicated to the life and work of the historian of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages Vasiliy T. Sirotenko, the reviewer emphasizes the fundamental positive features of the study: the use of a wide range of literature and sources (many of which were first introduced into scientific circulation), the well-thought-out methodological position of the author (no bias in covering the hero of the book), and the publication of letters and memories of V.T. Sirotenko. Although post-Soviet historiography already has a number of works on the life and work of V.T. Sirotenko and special attention of researchers has already been paid to the issue of his confrontation with the “official” Soviet narrative of early medieval history, Venger managed to introduce both his own balanced view into this topic and provide the reader with a number of new documents, which eventually made it possible to discover historiographic facts that can largely supplement, partially correct, and generally make an incident of V.T. Sirotenko more useful for understanding the entire late Soviet historical scholarship. The reviewer also finds comparatively insignificant shortcomings of the study: insufficient general analysis of memoir evidence, lack of explanations for readers about the peculiarities of the interaction of Soviet historians with each other, weak analysis of the scientific contribution of Sirotenko on the topic of barbarian invasions of Europe in the 4th – 6th centuries. Certain technical flaws also fail to affect the overall positive impression of the book.