Les différents mondes de Nikolaï Marr. Paradoxes disciplinaires (et pas seulement) d’un indiscipliné

N. Ya. Marr was a multifaceted scholar and somewhat enigmatic person, which is perhaps what makes him simultaneously attractive and repellent. The present paper aims to analyse certain aspects of his scientific and personal biography in order to unravel the complexities of both his domestic reception (initially in the Russian Empire and later in the Soviet Union) and abroad. The central idea is that Marr was, in a sense, an active victim of his extremely ambitious character and of the equally aggressive external political circumstances that shaped—and at the same time threatened—overall scientific development in the former multinational empire now governed by the Bolsheviks. To accomplish this, we rely on firsthand and contemporary sources, requiring a critical and thorough analysis “without anger and passion”.