The Academic Career of Nikolai Fedorovich Preobrazhensky (1893–1970)

The article presents the efforts of Nikolai Fedorovich Preobrazhensky, a young and little known Russian scholar, for an academic career at the University of Ljubljana. After the First World War Preobrazhensky decided not to return to Russia, where the Bolshevik revolution had broken out. Encouraged by the goodwill of Slovenian scholars, especially Rajko Nahtigal, whom he had met in Graz, he decided to realise his youthful dream of an academic career at the newly founded University of Ljubljana. But despite his efforts and repeated attempts, his intentions never completely materialised. Unsuccessful attempts at habilitation at the University of Ljubljana, where he taught practical Russian language classes, were an enormous blow to his self-esteem. He succeeded as late as 1958, after he had already been habilitated at the School of Arts in Zadar and decided to leave Slovenia, which became after World War I his second homeland.