Homskaya, E. D. (2001). Alexander Romanovich Luria. A scientific biography. Edited, with a foreword, by D. E. Tupper. Translated from Russian by D. Krotova. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic. xvi + 184 pp.
This is a book review by Sergey Avrutin
Dedicated to one of the most prominent Russian scientists of the 20th century, this book provides a detailed and careful description of the life and academic career of Alexander Luria. Written by one of his students and colleagues, it unavoidably bears traces of personal admiration characteristic of Luria’s reputation in the Russian academic circles. As Luria’s academic life spans a significant portion of the last century, the book offers a glimpse on the development of neurology and psychology in Russia in general, thus becoming of interest to a wider readership.
The book begins with an introduction by David E. Tupper who briefly outlines Luria’s place in the world academic community and his professional relationship with the author. The introduction is followed by the author’s preface to the English edition where she correctly states that the English edition will enable a broader audience to become familiar with the life and work of Alexander Luria.
The chapters are organized chronologically. Chapter 1 is dedicated to the childhood and youth and covers the period from Luria’s birth in Kazan (Russia) through the 20ss years. It provides an interesting view on the family background of a typical Russian Jewish intelligentsia family and mentions Luria’s early fascination with Freud, quite typical for the time and place.
The next decade, roughly through the beginning of the 30ss, is the subject of Chapter 2. It was the period of time particularly important for Luria’s future intellectual life, partly because, as the author points out, of his meeting with L. Vygotsky. The meeting clearly stimulated Luria’s interest in the relationship between culture and psychology, which was at the core of his research in the Central Asia. (Perhaps in a more hidden way, his interest in the cultural anthropology had persisted throughout Luria’s academic life.) It was also during this decade that his prominent career as a neuropsychologist – the line of research Luria is mostly known for in the West – became to take shape.
Chapter 3 covers the period of the thirties, which came down in the Soviet history as one of the darkest times because of the Stalinist persecution. Luria, too, became a target of ideological criticism, although, unlike many of his colleagues he was able to survive. Most of his work at that time was dedicated to what can be viewed as cultural anthropology from the psychological perspective, as well as research with twins.
Chapter 4, dedicated to the forties, describes Luria’s work at various rehabilitation centers and at the Neurosurgery Institute in Moscow. As for everybody else, this decade was marked by the tragic events of World War II.
The period of 1950s, the topic of Chapter 5, was tremendously difficult for Luria in two respects. First, it was a period when science in the Soviet Union became a target of highly politicized, ideological approach marked by persecution of "cosmopolitan influence." Luria’s work, clearly, did not fit well with the purely materialistic view advocated by the rulers. Second, it was a period marked by a dramatic increase of anti-Semitism directed, to a large extent, against Jewish intellectuals. While the book only briefly describes all the consequences that this policy had on Luria’s life and professional activity, it is clear that it significantly hindered his work, including his new interest in child language impairment, also developed in the fifties.
In the sixties, (Chapter 6), Luria’s academic life was very intense. During this decade, he published a tremendous number of articles, both in Russia and abroad, and supervised a number of graduate students, who later became the core of the Soviet Neurophysiology. It was during this time, that Luria attempted to formulate in detail the link between different levels of analyses (and between different areas of his professional interests). The landmark publication in this regard appeared in 1962 and was entitled Higher Cortical Functions in Man and Their Impairment Caused y Local Brain Damage. It was also a period when Luria developed a deep interest in the neuropsychology of memory.
Chapter 7, which ends with Alexander Luria’s death in 1977, is entitled "Creation of a Soviet Neuropsychological School." The title clearly reflects Luria’s life accomplishment as the founder of a new theoretical and experimental line of research in the Soviet Union.
Chapter 8 provides a nice overview of Luria’s main theoretical claims about the nature of the human mind, and his view on the notorious "brain-mind" problem. The chapter also summarizes Luria’s ideas about the relationship between psychology and physiology, his views on the organization of psychological functions of consciousness, and his perception of the biological (genetic) determination of the human psyche.
The book ends with three appendices: Highly detailed and well-organized biographical notes and chronology, a highly impressive bibliography (Luria’s publications in Russian, English and other languages), and a list of lectures and publications about Alexander Luria. The book also contains a number of photographs of Luria and his colleagues from different stages of his life.
Overall, the book is an important and interesting contribution to documenting development of ideas in the course of the twentieth century, in addition to being a well-deserved honor for Alexander Luria. Even the English translation is unable to completely hide the warmth and admiration that the author (as well as many other colleagues of Alexander Luria) expresses in her work. It is therefore particularly upsetting that the English text suffers from multiple ‘rusifications’ and otherwise inadequate translations. Even the title (‘Scientific biography’) sounds somewhat unnatural, being a literal translation of the Russian title (a more appropriate title would be perhaps ‘Life in Science’).
The book also appears sometimes a bit overloaded with names, dates and other details that hinder at times a smooth reading (on the other hand, it makes the book more informative). Finally, the book would have benefited from a more detailed discussion of how Luria’s work corresponded to what was being done in the relevant fields in other countries during his academic life. It is particularly upsetting that the Chomskyan linguistic revolution is not mentioned in the book at all, while it began during the same period of time when Luria was actively investigating human linguistic capacity working with aphasic patients. It would be interesting to know his attitude to the changes brought about by the generative revolution in linguistics.
To conclude, Evgenia Homskaya’s book can be viewed as a wonderful tribute to her teacher and colleague, and an interesting and important contribution to our understanding of the development of science in the former Soviet Union.
Revised: Monday, 08 May, 2006