I’ve started work on a paper on the depiction of criminals in labour camp writing for a workshop later this summer, and as Dostoevsky is one of my starting points, this has led me to revisit the broader question of the role of recurrent references to him in Gulag literature. This post is not intended [...]
Dostoevsky and the Gulag
Posted by Sarah Young on May 6, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/05/06/dostoevsky-and-the-gulag/
The Free Russian Press in London
When I wrote a post on Herzen in London, my focus was primarily on the man himself, rather than his publishing activities. But much of the discussion generated by the post recently has focused on the Free Russian Press (Вольная русская типография), leading me to conduct some further research, supported significantly by the contributions of three readers: [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on April 6, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/04/06/the-free-russian-press-in-london/
BASEES 2012 highlights
I was quite busy with committee business during the BASEES conference, but did manage to attend a few panels, and want to pick out a few highlights from what everyone I spoke to agreed was a very stimulating and enjoyable weekend. A Monday morning panel on Gulag literature may not be everybody’s idea of fun, [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on April 2, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/04/02/basees-2012-highlights/
Four short links (and more): the art of protest
I don’t do politics on this blog, but political art is allowed, and there have been some particularly good examples of creative protest and subversive art in Russia recently. So, while I’m stuck at home with pneumonia, a little round-up to pass the time, because I haven’t got the energy to do anything more taxing. [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 24, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/02/24/four-short-links-and-more-the-art-of-protest/
Four short links: intergalactic zombie agriculture!
… or Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov’s Philosophy of the Common Task. One comes across many extraordinary figures and ideas in Russian literature and intellectual history, but Fedorov stands out even in this exalted company. Fedorov’s ‘common task’, to which all human activity should be directed, was achieving immortality for all, including the dead, who would thereby [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 15, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/02/15/four-short-links-intergalactic-zombie-agriculture/
Mapping Gogol: Methodology
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, [...]
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/
@russianist
- #FF @saveUNlibrary for fighting the good fight. Closing libraries impoverishes us all
(about 4 hours ago) - RT @phoebetaplin: Is poetry always Lost in Translation? | Russia Beyond The Headlines http://t.co/1XKb1Mrx
(about 1 day ago) - RT @UCLSSEESLibrary: Online exhibition 'Bodies In Formation: Mass Gymnastics Under Communism' http://t.co/grRMXjoK via @osaarchivum #CE
(about 2 days ago) - RT @PlashingVole: My rough guide to what I'm looking for when I'm marking: http://t.co/1ksP3p5D
(about 2 days ago) - No sooner have I dispatched one set of exam scripts to the second examiner than another enormous pile lands on my desk #gradinghell
(about 2 days ago)