Rubakin, N.A.: The Merciless Negus. A Tale About the Traditions and Habits of Abyssinia

Title

Groznyi negus. Rasskaz o nravakh i obychaiakh Abissinii, Sankt-Peterburg 1904

The Merciless Negus. A Tale About the Traditions and Habits of Abyssinia

Keywords

Summary

The book is a compilation of chapters on Ethiopia, in which the author provides information about the country, fictionalising historical facts and the lives and adventures of historical figures. It is mainly focused on Emperor Tewodros II (1818-1868) and his clashes with the English, which led to his suicide during the battle of Magdala. According to the author, the book is based on: H. Blanc, Ma captivité en Abyssinie; I.M. Flad, Zwölf Jahre in Abyssinien; Lejean, Voyage en Abyssinie; Raffray, Abyssinie; A. Girard, Journal d’un voyage en Abyssinie; Russel, Une mission en Abyssinie; Vanderheim, 20 mois en Abyssinie; Le-Roux, Chasse et gens en Abyssinie; Rivoyre, Mer Rouge et Abyssinie; Flad, Abyssinische Juden; Reclus, Ratzel, Peschel, Hellwald and others.

Bio

Nikolai Rubakin was a Russian book historian, bibliographer, writer, and theorist of education, as well as a social activist. He graduated from the Saint Petersburg University in 1887. A pioneer in the theory of self-education, he authored works such as The Practice of Self-Education (1914), engaging in correspondence with 15.000 readers and developing individual self-education plans for them. Rubakin laid the groundwork for the sociology of reading with Etudes on the Russian Reading Public (1895). Active in politics, he was a member of the Social Revolutionary Party from 1901 to 1909, collaborating with the Social Democrats. Facing multiple expulsions from Saint Petersburg, he emigrated to Switzerland in 1907. Rubakin had the largest private collection of Russian literature abroad (around 100.000 volumes). Following his will, the collection was transferred to the Lenin State Library of the USSR after his death. Rubakin contributed to the field of bibliology with the theory of bibliological psychology (bibliopsychology). In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Rubakin authored journalistic works, popular science books, historical and adventure novels, as well as science fiction stories.

Sources

N. Ianovskii-Maksimov, Nasledie N. A. Rubakina, “Voprosy literatury”, 1959, 12, p. 147-157;

L. Razgon, Pod shifrom “Rb”: kniga o N. Rubakine: (1862-1946), Moskva 1966;

A. Rubakin, Rubakin (Lotsman knizhnogo moria), Moskva 1967;

K. Mavricheva, N.A. Rubakin, Moskva 1972;

I. Khomiakova, “Rubakin, Nikolai Aleksandrovich”, in Bol’shaia rossiiskaia entsiklopediia, v. 28, Moskva 2015, p. 734;

Iu. Stoliarov, Vozvrashchennyi Rubakin, Moskva 2019.

A.F.

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