Reading: Dostoevsky, “Dream of a Ridiculous Man” (1877) So we come to the end of this lecture series, and a slightly different focus than previously, as theoretical works take a back seat, and we look instead at Russian literature and culture to explore the utopian theme. There are clearly strong utopian aspects to the work […]
Russian thought lecture 10: Utopias in Russian culture: of palaces and panopticons
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2013/03/12/russian-thought-lecture-10-utopias-in-russian-culture-of-palaces-and-panopticons/
Russian thought lecture 9: Nikolai Fedorov and the utopia of the resurrected
Reading: “The Question of Brotherhood or Relatedness, and the Reasons for the Unbrotherly, Dis-Related, or Unpeaceful State of the World, and of the Means for the Restoration of Relatedness” (from Philosophy of the Common Task) So we come to the penultimate lecture for this course, and turn our attention more fully to the question of […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2013/03/05/russian-thought-lecture-9-nikolai-fedorov-and-the-utopia-of-the-resurrected/
Russian thought lecture 8: Vladimir Solov’ev: Godmanhood, Sophia, and erotic utopianism
Readings: Solov’ev, “The Meaning of Love” Vladimir Solov’ev (1853-1900) is a very significant figure in the history of Russian thought as well as being a very prominent poet, but in terms of his ideas, he is also a very challenging figure, whose work many people find difficult to understand.The text on which we are going […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2013/02/18/russian-thought-lecture-8-vladimir-solovev-godmanhood-sophia-and-erotic-utopianism/
Russian Thought lecture 7: Tolstoy: from Christian love to Christian anarchism
Readings: L. N. Tolstoy, “A Confession” (1879), “The Law of Violence and the Law of Love” (1908), “Postface to The Kreutzer Sonata” (1889) We now move onto Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910) who was not only one of the most important novelists in the nineteenth century, but also one of Russia’s most important thinkers. But while nobody would […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2013/01/28/russian-thought-lecture-7-tolstoy-from-christian-love-to-christian-anarchism/
Russian thought lecture 5: Dostoevsky and the anti-rationalist argument
Reading: Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864) This week we turn to the main response to the Nihilists’ ideas of rational egoism and social reorganization, in the form of Dostoevsky’s 1864 novel, Notes from Underground. Dostoevsky is the only writer whose fictional texts we are examining in any detail, but I think this is justified in […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/12/10/russian-thought-lecture-5-dostoevsky-and-the-anti-rationalist-argument/
Review: St Petersburg city-pick
City-pick St Petersburg, ed. Heather Reyes, Marina Samsonova and James Rann (Oxygen Books, 2012) The city-pick series of anthologies of city writing has turned its attention to St Petersburg, producing a thoroughly enjoyable collection that made me want to revisit old favourites and seek out some very interesting-looking texts (particularly non-Russian ones) that I hadn’t […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/12/02/review-st-petersburg-city-pick/
Russian thought lecture 4: Nihilism and the birth of Russian radicalism: from science to art
Readings: Nikolai Chernyshevsky, extracts from “The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy” (1860); Dmitry Pisarev, “The Realists” (1864) and “The Thinking Proletariat” (1865) We’re now moving away from the debate that arose initially out of Chaadaev’s “First Philosophical Letter” and dominated Russian intellectual life in the 1830s and 1840s. In the next generation a different set of […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/11/28/russian-thought-lecture-4-nihilism-and-the-birth-of-russian-radicalism-from-science-to-art/
Russian thought lecture 3: The Westernizers and concepts of the self: from reconciliation to action
Readings: Vissarion Belinsky, “Society and the Individual” (1839) extracts from “Letters to Botkin” (1840-1841) and “Letter to Gogol” (1847); Alexander Herzen, extracts from “Dilettantism in Science” (1843) “From the Other Shore” (1848-9) and “Robert Owen” (1861). Having examined the Slavophiles and the development of the idea of communality as a specifically Russian phenomenon, we now […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/11/08/russian-thought-lecture-3-the-westernizers-and-concepts-of-the-self-from-reconciliation-to-action/
Russian thought lecture 2: the Slavophiles and Russian communality
Readings: Aleksei Khomiakov, “On Humboldt” (1849) and “On the Church” (1855); Ivan Kireevskii, “A Reply to A. S. Khomiakov” (1839) and “On the Nature of European Culture and its Relation to the Culture of Russia” (1852); Konstantin Aksakov, “Memorandum to Alexander II on the Internal State of Russia” (1855) The Slavophiles were a group of […]
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/10/24/russian-thought-lecture-2-the-slavophiles-and-russian-communality/