It comes as something of a relief to learn that the Observer’s story about the government linking research council funding to the study of the Big Society turns out to be exaggerated, but given that our funding is at the mercy of the AHRC’s decisions about research themes, which in turn are dictated by their need […]
Russian Literature and the Big Society
Posted by Sarah Young on March 28, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/03/28/russian-literature-and-the-big-society/
Hughesovka revisited
Finding the concept of Welsh Noir rather appealing, I’ve been meaning to get round to reading Malcolm Pryce’s Aberystwyth novels, featuring gumshoe Louie Knight, for some time. But it was only when I picked up a copy of the latest addition to the series, From Aberystwyth With Love, that I realized its true significance. I had anticipated […]
Posted by Sarah Young on March 18, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/03/18/hughesovka-revisited/
Atamansha
According to one of my mailing lists, a poll to identify the women who best symbolize modern-day Russia has seen the top two places given to ageing lite entertainment diva and staple of celebrity gossip magazines, Alla Pugacheva (I could never see the point, even ironically – perhaps because I like music), and the arch-Putinite […]
Posted by Sarah Young on March 8, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/03/08/atamansha/
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
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/03/04/top-ten-animals-in-russian-literature/
Lenin in London: A Reply to Helen Rappaport
I recently received a comment from Helen Rappaport, responding to the criticisms I made of of her book Conspirator: Lenin in Exile (New York: Perseus, 2010) in my post on Lenin in London. You can read her comments on my Contact Me page, but I have decided to reply here rather than there, as I […]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 27, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/02/27/lenin-in-london-a-reply-to-helen-rappaport/
Blogs and academic publishing
This week has seen the launch of the Russian History Blog, a collaborative project that has already featured, among other things, a review of the Gulag escape film The Way Back, addressing questions surrounding the authenticity of the book it is based on, Slavomir Rawicz’s The Long Walk, and a discussion of a very significant […]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 20, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/02/20/blogs-academic-publishing/
Top Ten Murders in Russian Literature
This is the first in a new occasional series in which I’ll look at different aspects of Russian literature through a ‘Top Ten’, and hopefully give people a few reading ideas. My main rule is that writers may only have one entry in any given list. Which makes my first subject slightly trickier than it […]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 11, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/02/11/top-ten-murders-in-russian-literature/
Four short links: Russian oddments
1. Hermitage cats. For over 250 years – with a break during the siege when they sadly all perished – the Hermitage has been home to an army of 50 or so cats, and every year the museum holds a Cat Day in March with lots of cat-related events to celebrate the Winter Palace’s most […]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 5, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/02/05/four-short-links-russian-oddments/
Russians in London: the anarchist threat
For my final post in the series (for now), I want to discuss events rather than individuals. As a couple of my recent posts have suggested, by the end of the nineteenth century, the nature and number of Russian visitors to, and settlers in, London had changed considerably. It was no longer the preserve of […]
Posted by Sarah Young on January 31, 2011
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2011/01/31/russians-in-london-the-anarchist-threat/