Readings: Petr Chaadaev, “First Philosophical Letter” and “Apologia of a Madman” Before we get on to Chaadaev, the first question we must address is why he acts as the starting point for our exploration of Russian intellectual history. Chaadaev did not invent Russian philosophy; there was already a significant tradition of philosophical and polemical writing […]
Russian Thought Lecture 1: Petr Chaadaev and the Russian Question
Posted by Sarah Young on October 10, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/10/10/russian-thought-lecture-1-petr-chaadaev-and-the-russian-question/
Lectures on Russian Thought: Introduction
Over the next two terms I will be publishing fortnightly lectures from my undergraduate course on Russian thought. I’ve been teaching the course for a few years solely as seminars, but am changing it this year to lectures and seminars. I’ve decided to do so because for many of the students this is an entirely […]
Posted by Sarah Young on October 8, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/10/08/lectures-on-russian-thought-introduction/
Talking about Dostoevsky on Radio 3
Rather belatedly, I must alert readers to my appearance last week on BBC Radio 3’s Nightwaves programme. As part of a series on ‘the good life’, the programme was devoted to the ambiguous portrayal of goodness – and its spectacular failure – in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. You can listen to me discussing the novel with theologian […]
Posted by Sarah Young on September 20, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/09/20/talking-about-dostoevsky-on-radio-3/
Russian prison experience
Last week I participated in a workshop titled ‘Punishment as a Crime? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Prison Experience in Russian Culture’, at Uppsala University’s Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies. The programme, which is available here, was notable for its wide range of papers and approaches. The imperial, soviet and post-soviet periods were all covered, and […]
Posted by Sarah Young on August 22, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/08/22/russian-prison-experience/
Four short links: Victor Serge
I’ve read quite a few of Victor Serge’s (Victor Lvovich Kibalchich’s) fictional and autobiographical works recently, and have come to the conclusion that he is a truly remarkable writer – indeed one of the most underrated writers of the twentieth century. My plan to write a longer post or two about his work has stalled […]
Posted by Sarah Young on July 16, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/07/16/four-short-links-victor-serge/
Four short links: Gulag
A number of Gulag sites have come or returned to my attention recently, so this is a quick round-up of the best (for reasons I won’t go into, I’m rather short of time at the moment and the longer posts I’m trying to write are somewhat behind schedule). I’ve not included the virtual museums I […]
Posted by Sarah Young on July 13, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/07/13/four-short-links-gulag/
Music Monday: Hooligan
While I was reading up on Sergei Esenin recently (in connection with Shalamov), I was alerted to the song ‘Hooligan’ by Max, Kevin Mooney’s post-Adam and the Ants band, here in a great performance at The Clarendon, Hammersmith in, I believe, 1985: [‘Hooligan’ on YouTube] Reliable sources who were there at the time inform me […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 18, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/06/18/music-monday-hooligan/
Varlam Shalamov and the art of defecation
With apologies to any readers of a sensitive disposition, this is an important subject. Pretty much every Gulag narrative makes mention of the primitive toilet facilities and prison cells and camps – the ubiquitous and foul-smelling parasha (slop bucket) and arrangements for its emptying – and there are plenty of references to feelings of shame […]
Posted by Sarah Young on June 7, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/06/07/varlam-shalamov-and-the-art-of-defecation/
Dostoevsky and the Gulag
I’ve started work on a paper on the depiction of criminals in labour camp writing for a workshop later this summer, and as Dostoevsky is one of my starting points, this has led me to revisit the broader question of the role of recurrent references to him in Gulag literature. This post is not intended […]
Posted by Sarah Young on May 6, 2012
https://sarahjyoung.com/site/2012/05/06/dostoevsky-and-the-gulag/