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, [...]
All posts tagged Grossman
BASEES 2012 highlights
Posted by Sarah Young on April 2, 2012
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/04/02/basees-2012-highlights/
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/
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/
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/
Top Ten Animals in Russian Literature
As I have suggested previously, animals have a significant place in Russian literature, and I think this is quite unusual, probably reflecting the greater proximity of Russia literature to its folklore roots than is the case with other literary cultures. Although obviously children’s stories in English (as in other languages), are full of animal characters, [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on March 4, 2011
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/03/04/top-ten-animals-in-russian-literature/
An Interview with Robert Chandler
The Road, Robert Chandler’s new collection of translations of Vasily Grossman’s short stories and essays, will be published by MacLehose Press on 14th October 2010. On Monday 4th October at 6.30pm, he will be giving a talk about Grossman at Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Square, to mark the publication. Here I talk to Robert about Grossman’s writing [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on October 1, 2010
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/10/01/an-interview-with-robert-chandler/
Grossman events
Three events in June: Monday 7 June, 6.30pm, Free Word Centre: Robert Chandler talking about Vasily Grossman. Tuesday 15 June, 7.3opm, Pushkin House: Robert Chandler reading from his translation of Everything Flows, and discussing Grossman with Yekaterina Korotkova-Grossman (the author’s daughter). Sunday 20 June, 2pm, British Museum, Stevenson Room: Yekaterina Korotkova-Grossman talks to Robert Chandler about [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 24, 2010
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/05/24/grossman-events/
Merthyr Tydfil: the cradle of civilization
Merthyr Tydfil is one of my other interests, because of family connections and most importantly a great-great-uncle, D.B. Davies, who played rugby league for Merthyr and Wales in the early 1900s. (D.B. stands for Dai ‘Brecon Road’ Davies, to distinguish him from the other Dai Davies on the Merthyr team; here are some old photos [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 9, 2010
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/05/09/merthyr-tydfil-the-cradle-of-civilization/
Two articles
Russian literature is featuring more than usual in The Guardian this week. First, sadly, the obituary of the poet Elena Shvarts, one of the great heirs to the Petersburg tradition of Russian literature. Second, an article about Vasily Grossman to mark the British publication of Robert Chandler’s translation of Everything Flows (read it — it’s extraordinary!). [...]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 7, 2010
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/05/07/two-articles/