dated December 4, 1918
English translation by Roger W. Smith and Natalia Sergieva
See Word documents above.
– posted by Roger W. Smith
March 2024
some favorite Sorokin photos
Most of these have already been posted by me elsewhere.
— Roger W. Smith
“He is to me like God,” wrote an awestruck Freshman.
Faculty Profile (Fadiman) – Harvard Crimson 4-22-1941
Posted here (Word document above) is the following article about Sorokin:
“Faculty Profile”
The Harvard Crimson
April 22, 1941
–– posted by Roger W Smith
March 2023
“A Sociologist’s Political Memories”
review of Leaves from a Russian Diary – Chicago Evening Post 1-30-1925
Posted here:
“A Sociologist’s Political Memories”
review of Sorokin, Leaves from a Russian Diary
reviewed by Lawrence Martin
The Chicago Evening Post Literary Review
January 30, 1925
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a “footnote”
I read Sorokin’s Leaves years ago, after “discovering” him. It was the second Sorokin book I read (after The Crisis of Our Age). It was unforgettable; it made a very strong impression of me.
This review conveys the excitement that the book conveyed. And it hints at some of its weaknesses, which I would say are those of a lot of good storytellers: a tendency at times to exaggeration and of, at times, “polishing the apple,” which is to say “prettying” incidents for effect.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
February 2024
a visit to 8 Cliff Street
On May 24, 2017, on a trip to Massachusetts, I made a stop in Winchester (a town near Cambridge), where Pitirim A. Sorokin, his wife Elena, and their sons lived. Both of Sorokin’s sons graduated from Winchester High School.
I know the area well, having grown up in Cambridge. My father grew up in nearby Arlington. A musician and piano teacher, he had many piano students in Winchester and was involved in musical productions there.
Sorokin and family resided at 8 Cliff Street in Winchester.
I was interested not only to see the residence of a world renowned scholar and writer, but also to see the house because it was famous for its grounds: a garden developed and maintained by Sorokin himself, for which he had won awards from horticultural societies and of which he was proud.
I drove up the block, which was on a steep ascent, using GPS to guide me. The GPS system advised me that I had arrived at my destination, 8 Cliff Street, on my left. I saw 6 Cliff Street, but where was number 8? Number 8 was shrouded and hidden by a profusion of flowering bushes. It reminded me of the Forest of Thorns in “Sleeping Beauty.”
‘Winchester Hillside Aglow with Azaleas’ – Boston Globe 5-23-1954
— posted by Roger W. Smith
February 2024
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Pitirim A. Sorokin residence, 8 Cliff St., Winchester, MA. Photographs by Roger W. Smith
post updated
Yuri Doykov, ” ‘Modern Thought of P. A. Sorokin”
Yuri Doykov, ‘Modern Thought of P. A. Sorokin’
posted here (PDF above)
Yuri Doykov
” ‘Modern Thought of P. A. Sorokin”
Arkhangelsk, 1995
a few photographs
an early photo
Adolfo Posada, “Ética y sociología de la revolución”; “Sociología y ética de la revolución”; La Nación, 1925 (re Sorokin’s The Sociology of Revolution)
Posted here (PDFs above)
Adolfo Posada
Ética y sociología de la revolución
La Nación
November 1, 1925
Adolfo Posada
Sociología y ética de la revolución
La Nación
December 6, 1925
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I have transcribed and translated both articles, which are posted here:
the original Spanish
English translations by Roger W. Smith
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Adolfo González-Posada y Biesca (1860-1944) was a Spanish jurist, sociologist, translator, writer and politician linked to regenerationism. He was Professor of Political Law the Universidá Complutense de Madrid
Regenerationism was an intellectual and political movement in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Spain. It sought to make objective and scientific study of the causes of Spain’s decline as a nation and to propose remedies. It is largely seen as distinct from another movement of the same time and place, the Generation of ’98. While both movements shared a similar negative judgment of the course of Spain as a nation in recent times, the regenerationists sought to be objective, documentary, and scientific, while the Generation of ’98 inclined more to the literary, subjective and artistic. (Wikipedia)
La Nación was a Spanish newspaper published in Madrid between 1925 and 1936. During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the newspaper was the central organ of the Patriotic Union and also served as the “official” newspaper of the regime. (Wikipedia)
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Acknowledgment:
I wish to thank Lindsay A. Stokalko, Archives Specialist, University Archives and Special Collections, University of Saskatchewan, for procuring this article from the Sorokin archives, and for overseeing photocopying of the document, which presented difficulties. Some Spanish archive presumably has copies of La Nación, but I was unable to find or obtain them anywhere else; and I doubt that Sorokin scholars have seen these articles before.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
September 2023
Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin 