Serge Elisséeff: Life and Career

This article was written in commemoration of Serge Elisséeff (18891975) - an outstanding 20th century Japanologist, the world-famous scholar and teacher, the founder of the school of Far Eastern studies in the USA, the organizer of academic Japanology in France, one of the first Russian Japanologists. In the autumn of 1920, he emigrated from the Soviet Russia, and was practically unknown in the USSR for this reason. The recognition of the achievements of Russian emigrants in the fields of academic science, engineering, art, and literature in their motherland, when they became its pride, required a lot of time. The only international conference devoted to Elisséeff’s academic path was held in Moscow in 1999. A series of reports was presented by academicians, journalists, and persons who had known Serge Elisséeff personally. Nevertheless, it became evident that his personal and professional life still needs further profound study. For this purpose, the author collected many new documents in various archives and libraries of the countries somehow linked to Serge Elisséeff’s life. They formed a base for reconstructing the prominent scholar’s academic biography. The author reveals the early period of his life and the reasons for his interest in Japanese studies, and introduces some new details of his study at the Imperial Tokyo University (he graduated in 1912 as the first European graduate). The paper examines the Petrograd period of Elisséeff’s career in 1915-1920, when he was a young scholar and professor, and proves his considerable professional contribution to the French Japanology. Serge Elisséeff’s fundamental contribution as the organizer of Far Eastern studies at Harvard and the U.S. in general was fully confirmed by the American archive documents. His extraordinary administrative abilities were revealed during his tenure as the Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, when he fulfilled a number of activities at Harvard, in China, and in other Asian countries. The paper considers Elisséeff’s cooperation with the U.S. Secret Services during World War II, and shows his role in saving Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. The article also introduces Elisséeff’s accomplishments in spreading the Japanological expertise and the knowledge of Japanese mentality in the West. A number of new scholarly archive sources are put in scientific circulation.

Serge Elisséeff, Japanology, Japanese art, Japanese literature, Russian emigration in Paris, Japanology at Harvard University, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Christian universities in China, Kyoto carpet bombing

1. Алексеев 1923 - Алексеев В. М. Русское востоковедение за границей. Восток. 1923. Кн. 2. С. 132.

2. Архив востоковедов Института восточных рукописей РАН, Санкт-Петербург.

3. Дьяконова 2000 - Дьяконова Е. М. Письма С. Г. Елисеева к В. М. Алексееву 1933-1936. С. Г. Елисеев и мировое японоведение (Россия, Япония, США, Франция, Швеция, Вьетнам). Материалы международной научной конференции. Москва: Япония сегодня, 2000. С. 144-196.

4. Дьяконова, Смирнов 2003-2004 - Дьяконова Е. М., Смирнов И. С. Письма С. Г. Елисеева к В. М. Алексееву. Восток-Запад. Историко-литературный альманах. Москва: Восточная литература, 2003-2004. С. 28-78.

5. Елисеев 1914 - Елисеев С. Г. Хи но мото но куни о сару ни нодзомитэ [Уезжая из Японии]. Кокоро но хана. 1914. Т. 18. № 9. С. 30-33.

6. Елисеев 1920 - Елисеев С. Г. Японская литература. Литература Востока. Вып. 2. Всемирная литература. Петроград: Гослитиздат. С. 38-89.

7. Елисеев 2000 - Елисеев С. Г. Японская литература. С. Г. Елисеев и мировое японоведение (Россия, Япония, США, Франция, Швеция, Вьетнам). Материалы международной научной конференции. Москва: Япония сегодня, 2000. С. 242-284.

8. Ермакова 2005 - Ермакова Л. М. Вести о Япан-острове в стародавней России и другое. Москва: Языки славянских культур, 2005.

9. Комия, Абэ, Накамура 1953 - Комия Тоётака, Абэ Ёсисигэ, Накамура Китидзаэмон. Эрисээфу о какондэ ко:данкай [Вокруг Елисеева]. Тосё. 1953. № 43. C. 17-20.

10. Личный архив Ярослава Елисеева, Нью-Джерси.

11. Марахонова 2016 - Марахонова С. И. Орден Священного сокровища Сергея Елисеева. Как сын русского купца стал основателем американского японоведения. Санкт-Петербург: СИНЭЛ, 2016.

12. Мацубара 1977 - Мацубара Сюнуи. Пэрэ:ру гай но ро:гакуся - Эрисээфу си то катару [Ученый с улицы Перейр - беседы с Елисеевым]. Кангэйюцу. 1977. № 1. С. 140-153.

13. Умэда 2000 - Умэда Ёсими. Воспоминания о Сергее Елисееве. С. Г. Елисеев и мировое японоведение (Россия, Япония, США, Франция, Швеция, Вьетнам). Материалы международной научной конференции. Москва: Япония сегодня, 2000. С. 106-107.

14. Шарье 2000 - Шарье И. Сергей Елисеев и современное японское искусство. С. Г. Елисеев и мировое японоведение (Россия, Япония, США, Франция, Швеция, Вьетнам). Материалы международной научной конференции. Москва: Япония сегодня, 2000. С. 92-105.

15. Akamatsu 1975 - Akamatsu, P. Nécrologie. Serge Elisséeff (1889-1995). Journal asiatique. 1975. T. CCLXIII. Pp. 205-210.

16. Bernstein 1980 - Bernstein, B. Truman at Potsdam: His secret diary. Foreign Service Journal. 1980. July/August. Pp. 29-36. Доступно по адресу: https://www.documentcloud.org/%20documents/3913511-Truman-s-Potsdam-Diary.html (дата обращения: 11.05.2020).

17. Eliseev 1923 - Eliseev S. G. La Peinture contemporaine au Japon. Paris: E. de Boccard, 1923.

18. Elisséeff 1949 - Elisséeff S. G. Études des langues extrême-orientales aux États-Unis pendant la guerre 1941-1945. Actes du XXIe Congrès International des Orientalistes. 21-23 juillet 1948. Paris, 1949. Рр. 258-260.

19. Harvard University Gazette 1977 - Serge Elisséeff: A Japan Scholar of “Wit, Warmth, Unflagging Zest”. Memorial Minute adopted by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard University. April 12, 1977. Harvard University Gazette. 27 May 1977. Vol. LXXII. № 33.

20. In Memoriam 1976 - In Memoriam. Serge Elisséeff. Arts Asiatiques. 1976. T. XXXII. Pp. 287-288.

21. McNaughton 1952 - McNaughton J. C. Nisei linguists. Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II. Government Printing Office, 1952.

22. Pouillon (ed.) 2008 - Pouillon Fr. (ed.). Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue français. Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2008.

23. Reischauer 1957 - Reischauer E. O. Serge Elisséeff. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 1957. Vol. 20. Pp. 1-35.

24. Stimson’s diary 1945. - Stimson’s diary. 24 July 1945. Yale University Manuscripts and Archives. Yale University Library. https://imageserver.library.yale.edu/digcoll:4345881/guestcb%2083e72b166740349c7cd4cd3d372dd6@yaleguest.edu/of3rrNZmaHmvHFKsi-4HcPydWGDI/1500.jpe?authroot=findit.library.yale.edu&parentfolder=digcoll:4345881&ip=91.108.30.34 (дата обращения: 11.05.2020).

25. The Edwin O. Reishauer Institute 1996 - The Edwin O. Reishauer Institute of Japanese Studies. A Twenty-Year Chronicle. Cambridge (Mass.), 1996.