…because it’s what the internet’s for. There is a tenuous Russian connection, as although she’s universally known as Chicken, her real name is in fact Chapaev. When she first came into my life, I was reading Victor Pelevin’s novel Chapaev i Pustota (variously translated as The Clay Machine Gun and Buddha’s Little Finger). It’s far from […]
Gratuitous cat picture
Posted by Sarah Young on February 18, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/02/18/gratuitous-cat-picture/
Krupskaya: an apology
I’ve been criticized by my boyfriend for my unsisterly (although true — even he admits it) comment about Nadezhda Krupskaya in a recent post. So, I apologise, and instead will enumerate some of the many valid reasons there are to dislike the woman. There is, of course, her dreadful hagiography, Reminiscences of Lenin. And the fact […]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 16, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/02/16/krupskaya-an-apology/
Sonia: another thought
William Burnham’s article, ‘The Legal Context and Contributions of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment,’ Michigan Law Review, 100.6 (2002), 1227-1248, suggests another dimension to Sonia’s role as a registered prostitute. Burnham states that while confession and eye-witness testimony were considered the most reliable forms of proof in Russia at the time, ‘the law disqualified several classes of […]
Posted by Sarah Young on February 2, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/02/02/sonia-another-thought/
Four short links: eat, drink and be merry
Or… Four slightly random Russian-related things that have very little in common other than the fact that they’re somewhat more fun that my usual preoccupations. The first two are my favourite Russian news stories from the last few days — they certainly make a change from the usual fare. My thanks to John for alerting […]
Posted by Sarah Young on January 31, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/01/31/four-short-links-eat-drink-and-be-merry/
Crime and Punishment: Sonia and prostitution
I’ve been thinking a lot about Crime and Punishment recently, partly because I’m teaching it on our MA course on the nineteenth-century Russian novel, partly because of the recent adaptation I saw, and partly because I’m starting to plan a new digital project on the novel (more on that anon). What has really piqued my […]
Posted by Sarah Young on January 26, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/01/26/crime-and-punishment-sonia-and-prostitution/
Crime and Punishment in a squat
Last week I went to see a production of Crime and Punishment by the Ashes and Diamonds Theatre Company at the Oubliette squat in Mayfair (their website is currently being upgraded so hopefully there will be something to see there soon). The production was a bit of a mixed bag, but overall I liked it […]
Posted by Sarah Young on January 13, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/01/13/crime-and-punishment-in-a-squat/
Shalamov’s titles
One tends to spend a lot of time focusing on the first and final sentences of Shalamov’s stories, because the author did attribute particular importance to them. But recently, I’ve also been thinking about his titles. Consisting largely of one or two words, most of them are strikingly commonplace. Some, such as ‘The Parcel’, ‘Rain’, […]
Posted by Sarah Young on January 7, 2010
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/01/07/shalamovs-titles/
The problem with Solzhenitsyn
Not entirely in the festive spirit, I’ve been reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Invisible Allies (trans. Alexis Klimoff and Michael Nicholson; London: Harvill, 1997) with my usual set of mixed feelings. He’s not the greatest writer the world has ever seen, but he is very readable. Last time I read The Gulag Archipelago in full, I couldn’t […]
Posted by Sarah Young on December 31, 2009
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2009/12/31/the-problem-with-solzhenitsyn/
Four short links: Dostoevsky
1. The Complete Works of Dostoevsky. A really pioneering website; the concordance and Gospel, with Dostoevsky’s textual markers, are a must for any scholar. It’s been around for years, and used to be very slow (in the late nineties when I was working on my PhD, searches were best conducted after midnight — at other […]
Posted by Sarah Young on December 27, 2009
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2009/12/27/four-short-links-dostoevsky/
Fairytale and reality in Gulag narratives
The fairytale metaphor is a recurring feature a large number of Gulag narratives, both fictional and non-fictional, and it stands out because most of these texts are otherwise determinedly unmetaphoric. Amid the stark language habitually used to narrate the experience of the Gulag, aimed at depicting the harshness of reality, there are recurring images of […]
Posted by Sarah Young on December 21, 2009
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2009/12/21/fairytale-and-reality-in-gulag-narratives/