I have in my hands a very original and unusual edition - A. A. Tokarev. "Portuguese studies in the USSR and Russia. O portugalistike i portugalistakh " - (Moscow, Vse Mir, 2014, 184 p., with fig.). For the first time in our country, an attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive overview of the work of scientists and practitioners of various humanitarian fields: linguists, translators, teachers, historians, international journalists, etc.who work with the Portuguese language or use Portuguese-language materials and sources. If, for example, "Anglophony "and" Francophony "are well researched and abound in historiographical works, then" Lusophony " * is practically an unexplored area. It is even less well known to the general reader. A. A. Tokarev-Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Center for South African Countries at the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences-has an excellent command of Portuguese, teaches it, worked as a military translator; author of a number of monographs and articles on the problems of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa 1. The book is unusual in its genre. It consists of 10 chapters covering many areas of science related in one way or another to the use of the Portuguese language. These are the history of Portugal itself, Brazil, and the former Portuguese colonial possessions in Africa and Asia; educational and reference literature, works on linguistics (this section is a good help for those who want to learn Portuguese, both scientists and tourists); translated fiction; memoirs. These very informative chapters are supplemented by articles by A. A. Tokarev himself. It is very important to note that an attempt is made to trace the history of Portuguese studies in our country from the time of pre-revolutionary Russia to the present day and the author's thoughts on its future. This is the subject of the chapters "On Portugalists and Portugalists in pre-revolutionary Russia and the USSR" (starting with the intro ... Читать далее