As part of our work to expand Mapping St Petersburg and develop the idea of experimenting with literary cartography, we have produced two maps visualizing the spatial arrangement of Gogol’s Peterburg Tales. The first marks all the place references in the five stories, Nevskii prospekt, The Portrait, The Diary of a Madman, The Nose and The Overcoat, while the second differentiates between the places where the action occurs, [...]
Mapping Gogol: Methodology
Posted by Sarah Young on January 29, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/01/29/mapping-gogol-methodology/
Dostoevsky in English
I haven’t posted anything for a while, but having got over pre-Christmas flu, festivities, and catching up with work after both, I am now back in the saddle. I decided to post a list of links to English translations of Dostoevsky’s works, partly because someone suggested it would useful, partly to have an overview what’s [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on January 16, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/01/16/dostoevsky-in-english/
Top ten letters in Russian literature
Letters play a significant role in some of my favourite works of Russian literature, and a couple in particular have been very much on my mind lately. So here is my top ten, which manages to encompass everything from the absurd to the tragic. Apologies for the plot spoilers (especially in entries 10, 7 and [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on December 15, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/12/15/top-ten-letters-in-russian-literature/
The Crystal Palace fire
Seventy-five years ago, on 30th November 1936, the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. Contemporary newsreels give a good impression of the events of that evening: You can also see the Pathe newsreels here, and parts of the Crystal Palace is on Fire video made by the Crystal Palace Foundation. What really struck me as [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on November 30, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/11/30/the-crystal-palace-fire/
In Herzen’s footsteps: a visit to Ventnor
You never quite know where your research is going to take you, but I have to admit I didn’t expect it to be to the Isle of Wight. That, however, is where I ended up a couple of months ago as a result of my Russians in London post on Alexander Herzen, after I was [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on November 10, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/11/10/in-herzens-footsteps-a-visit-to-ventnor/
The games Russian boys play
Whilst doing some research for my Russians in London series (to be resumed at some unspecified point), I came across a truly unexpected document from the pages of Chums, a middle-class boys’ weekly magazine published between 1892 and 1941, later associated with the scout movement, but in its early years probably most notable for its [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on October 16, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/10/16/the-games-russian-boys-play/
Four short links: Soviet design
The promised posts on Herzen are still in preparation, but in the meantime, a few recent features on Soviet design have reminded me that their poster art wasn’t an isolated phenomenon (incidentally, good sites for Soviet posters keep cropping up – I found this French one after I published my four short links post). Favourite [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on October 9, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/10/09/four-short-links-soviet-design/
E. H. Carr on women
I’ve been re-reading parts of E. H. Carr’s The Romantic Exiles (1933) in preparation for a couple of forthcoming posts on Alexander Herzen, and it’s left an unpleasant taste that I have to address before I can even get onto Herzen. Clearly I’m far from being the first person to take issue with Carr – Norman [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 25, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/09/25/e-h-carr-on-women/
Vasily Grossman: links
The BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Life and Fate is in full swing, but I’ve been away/really busy, so I haven’t managed to listen to any of it yet (perhaps later today, if I finish the article I’m working on…), or write the follow-up post I was intending about the conference. But as Grossman mania sweeps [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 20, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/09/20/vasily-grossman-links/
Life and Fate on the BBC
I’m still recovering from a couple of memorable days at St Peter’s College Oxford, where the BBC’s event to celebrate the Radio 4 adaptation of Vasily Grossman’s vast and still under-appreciated novel Life and Fate was followed by an interdisciplinary conference on Grossman. I’m still gathering my thoughts on the latter, so I’ll save that [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 12, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/09/12/life-and-fate-on-the-bbc/
@russianist
- Hilarious sleeping cats http://t.co/6bzatKB9 via @EHChalus < made my day too!
(about 2 days ago) - @BeraDis so take it up with the people who produced the panorama. Or should I include a disclaimer with every link?
(about 2 days ago) - @BeraDis Well, something has to be (too bad for ipad owners, I mean, not that something has to be in Flash - I wish that wasn't the case!)
(about 2 days ago) - RT @anterotesis: Stunning interactive panorama of #Petersburg #Russia http://t.co/zUEl8bNF
(about 3 days ago) - RT @ioffeinmoscow: Best Russian photography of the year: http://t.co/AByf5pb2
(about 3 days ago)