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 [...]
The games Russian boys play
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/
Gulag Voices: two books
This year has seen the publication of two books titled Gulag Voices: an anthology of memoirs edited by Anne Applebaum, and a collection of oral histories by Jehanne Gheith and Katherine Jolluck, so this seems like a good opportunity to look at both of them. I had previously read all but one of the extracts [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 5, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/09/05/gulag-voices-two-books/
Judging books by their covers
As part of some work on Vasily Grossman (about which more anon), I’ve been catching up with my reading on Gulag history. Stephen Cohen’s The Victims Return finally arrived at the library, so I went to get it out. The first thing that struck me was how similar its cover was to another recent book on Gulag [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on August 29, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/08/29/judging-books-by-covers/
Four short links: Soviet posters
Soviet poster art was truly remarkable, and some amazing examples are available on the internet. My favourite sites are: 1) Plakaty.ru. A huge gallery with a wide range of subjects, from military to entertainment and advertising, including this one from the propaganda section, which reads: ‘Stalin’s mood makes our army and country strong and solid!’ [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on August 25, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/08/25/four-short-links-soviet-posters/
Doroshevich on Sakhalin
I had other plans yesterday, but was feeling far too tired and depressed to concentrate on the writing I was supposed to be doing. So, to take my mind off present-day violent criminality at home, I started thinking about violent criminality more than a hundred years ago on the other side of the world… I recently [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on August 10, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/08/10/doroshevich-on-sakhalin/
Russians in London (ish)
Walking though the city the other day, I came across this sculpture set into the wall of the BBVA bank at 108 Cannon Street: Sensing a certain Russianness about it, I stopped for a closer look, and discovered that the sculptor was none other than Zurab Tsereteli, monument builder extraordinaire and president of the Russian [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on August 1, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/08/01/russians-in-london-ish/
@russianist
- #FF @saveUNlibrary for fighting the good fight. Closing libraries impoverishes us all
(about 3 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)