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All posts tagged Peter the Great

Russian thought lecture 10: Utopias in Russian culture: of palaces and panopticons

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 […]

Russians in London: Peter the Great

For such a famous visit, Peter the Great’s stay in London in 1698 seems to be surrounded by confusion and apocryphal tales (this article from the Torygraph retails its fair share of them), from the misplaced plaque that once adorned 15 Buckingham Street, several streets away from where he actually stayed on his arrival, to […]

Russians in London: Introduction

Over the next few weeks, I will be publishing a series of posts entitled ‘Russians in London’. The project came to mind when I was researching Dostoevsky and the Crystal Palace earlier this year. I started thinking about his description of Whitechapel and the Haymarket in Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, and imagined him haunting […]

Four short links: Russian folk art

Like many people who’ve spent time in Russia, I’ve picked up various bits of decorative art over the years. I’ve always liked the contrast between the really beautiful side of Russian folk art, such as Palekh boxes (the picture on this one is from Ruslan and Liudmila): and its amusing and slightly vulgar side – […]

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, […]

Russkii vestnik 1863

Highlights of this year include Tolstoy’s The Cossacks and Polukushka. I have to admit I’ve never come across the latter before — I’m slightly on the fence about Tolstoy, so I never really get beyond the obvious things, although there are quite enough of those. There’s also part of a drama by Maikov called Three […]

One year old today: where do I go from here?

Today is the first anniversary of my blog, and I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve done so far and what I’m planning to do in the coming months. I’ve made a couple of discoveries over the last year. I’ve realized that cats, the Crystal Palace, and Merthyr Tydfil all attract a more readers than Russian […]