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[THE MANDE CULTURE IN THE USSR] Sund’iata: Mandingskii epos [i.e. Sundiata. The Manding Epic]

Item #2791

Moscow; Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1963. 152 pp.: ill. 17x13 cm. In original wrappers with monochrome ornament and original illustrated dust jacket. Dust jacket slightly bumped, otherwise near fine.

First and only Soviet edition of the epic. The preface provides a quick immersion into the history of African literary studies and Mande culture, the scholarly tradition surrounding the Epic of Sundiata, and the lingering traces of totemism and witchcraft.

The preface was written by one of the founders of African studies in the USSR, ethnographer Dmitry Olderogge (1903–1987). Olderogge became one of the pioneers of teaching African languages in the USSR. In 1961, the first Swahili–Russian dictionary was published under his editorship, followed by the first Hausa–Russian dictionary in 1963. He also founded the study of Mande languages in the Soviet Union.

Born into a noble family of German origin in St. Petersburg, Dmitry Olderogge entered Petrograd University in 1922 after serving in the Red Army. Initially interested in theories of state formation, he turned to Egyptology and later to African studies. In 1925 he joined the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) and soon traveled to Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium (1927–1928) to train in African ethnology and linguistics, becoming a key link between Soviet and international Africanists.

Returning to the USSR, Olderogge built a university system for African languages. He began teaching Swahili at the Leningrad Oriental Institute and, by the mid-1930s, secured the inclusion of African languages in the curriculum at Leningrad University, where he headed the Bantu program. At the Kunstkamera, he became head of the Africa department in 1929. In 1935 he received a Candidate of Sciences degree without defense.

The 1930s were dangerous: mindful of his background, Olderogge published nothing and secretly supported repressed colleagues.

During the siege of Leningrad, he remained in the city, continuing research before evacuating to Tashkent in 1942. He returned in 1944, received the Medal for the Defense of Leningrad, and in 1946 became chair of the Department of African Studies at Leningrad University. He defended his doctorate in 1945, though the dissertation was never published in full due to the displeasure of influential academics with its ideological compliance.

The late 1950s and 1960s brought extensive foreign travel. He attended congresses in Philadelphia (1956), Munich (1957), Tokyo (1968), and was visiting professor in Poland (1958) and at the Sorbonne (1961). He led expeditions to Egypt (1958–1960) and Mali (1963–1964), where he advised on writing systems for national languages. In 1960 he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences — the only Africanist at that level until the 1980s. In 1964, Olderogge was sent to Poland to interrogate Erich Koch about the Amber Room. Later foreign travel became restricted after 1968, possibly due to remarks about Czechoslovakia.

International recognition continued: he was elected to the French Academy of Overseas Sciences (1973), became a corresponding fellow of the British Academy (1975), and received Leipzig University’s Medal of Merit (1979). In the USSR, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1973) and the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1983). An invitation to teach at Oxford (1985) was declined due to failing eyesight. Olderogge remained head of the Africa department at the Kunstkamera until his death in 1987, having trained generations of Soviet Africanists.

The notable book design was created by graphic artist Boris Vlasov (1936–1981). He was born on March 26, 1936, in Leningrad, into a family of graphic artists: his father was V. A. Vlasov and his mother T. V. Shishmaryova. In 1961, he graduated from the graphic arts faculty of the I. E. Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, where he studied book graphics in the studio of Professor M. A. Taranov. His creative legacy includes fifteen illustrated books for both children and adults.

Worldcat shows copies at Yale University and NYPL.

Price: $450.00