Chto delat? (What is to be Done?) is a collective of artists, theorists and political activists from Moscow, Petersburg and Novgorod, formed in 2003. In general I’m more au fait with their political work, via their Russian blog, where I’ve been reading intermittently about the activities and persecution (both official and unofficial) of anti-fascist, ecological and […]
Chto delat? at the ICA
Posted by Sarah Young on October 5, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/10/05/chto-delat-at-the-ica/
Russkii vestnik 1858
Poetry plays a strong role in the 1858 volumes, with works by Maikov, Fet, Berg, A. K. Tolstoy, Tiutchev, Pavlova, and others. Prose fiction features somewhat less, though there are number of stories, including contributions by Tur an Narskaia. Non-fictional articles are both wide-ranging and international in perspective. Although there are works on Russian history, […]
Posted by Sarah Young on October 3, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/10/03/russkii-vestnik-1858/
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
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/10/01/an-interview-with-robert-chandler/
The yellow card: a footnote
Earlier in the year, I wrote about the regulation of prostitution in Russia as part of my consideration of the representation of Sonia in Crime and Punishment. The subject has now come back to my attention as the result of some completely unrelated reading: the very fine East End Jewish Radicals, 1875-1914, by William J. […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 27, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/27/the-yellow-card-a-footnote/
Russkii vestnik 1859
In terms of Russian literature, the big work of 1859 is Tolstoy’s Family Happiness, though I have to admit I think it’s dreadful, sentimental rubbish, probably the worst thing he ever wrote. On a more positive note, I’m happier to see Adam Bede, which is my favourite work of George Eliot’s (I’m not her biggest […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 26, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/26/russkii-vestnik-1859/
Vavilov and the Pavlovsk Experimental Station
My knowledge of science in Russia is pretty limited. Like most students of Russian literature, I know that Dmitry Mendeleev, of periodic table fame, was the father-in-law of the poet Alexander Blok. Shalamov, in his story Courses, tells the tale of having to pass an oral exam in Chemistry, his weakest subject, in order to […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 20, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/20/vavilov-and-the-pavlovsk-experimental-station/
Russkii vestnik 1860
Women again make a fairly strong showing, with contributions from Evgeniia Tur, Pavlova and Shcherbinina, as well as George Eliot’s Mr Gilfil’s Love Story appearing in the supplement to volume 28. Other works of English literature to appear in 1860 are Thackeray’s Four Georges and Dinah Craik’s John Halifax, Gentleman, and the interest in things […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 19, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/19/russkii-vestnik-1860/
Russkii vestnik 1861
There are no particularly famous works of Russian literature in these volumes, although there are poems by Viazemsky and Almazov, as well as N. D. Akhsharumov’s A Strange Name and a couple of short stories. It’s stronger on history, with Sergei Solov’ev on 18th century Russian history, N. A. Popov on Peter the Great’s administrative […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 12, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/12/russkii-vestnik-1861/
Re-reading Crime and Punishment: the Drunkards
When Dostoevsky first conceived of the work that ultimately became Crime and Punishment, he titled it ‘The Drunkards’, and said that it would deal with ‘the present question of drunkenness … [in] all its ramifications, especially the picture of a family and the bringing up of children in these circumstances’ (letter to A. A. Kraevsky, June […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 6, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/06/re-reading-crime-and-punishment-the-drunkards/
Russkii vestnik 1862
Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons was obviously the literary event of 1862, and the furore that surrounded the novel is also reflected here in articles about Turgenev and nihilism. Other critical works include Druzhinin on new talent in contemporary English literature, Nikolai Tikhonravov on Russian literature and on Karamzin, de Roberti on English journalism, and P. […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 5, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/09/05/russkii-vestnik-1862/