The Slavic Literature Pod

Show Notes : This week, Cameron dives back into the work of Leo Tolstoy to talk about one of his later works, Hadji Murat . He’s joined by podcast returnee Dr. Tatyana Gershkovich, whose book Art in Doubt analyzes Tolstoy and Vladimir Nakokov’s approaches to skepticism, to talk about the work, Tolstoy’s work What is Art? , and discuss how his approaches to “true” and “untrue” art affect the novel....

Pick up a copy of To Hell with Poets from the Tilted Axis Press website.  Show Notes : This week, Cameron revisits Baqytgul Sarmekova’s To Hell With Poets with the help of the collection’s translator, Mirgul Kali. Together, they’ll dive back into how Sarmekova explores both Kazakh society and more universal themes through violence, disappointment and hope. Plus, learn a little more about Sarmekova...

Buy a copy of I Burned at the Feast here . Show Notes : This week, Cameron dives into the collection I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky . You have almost certainly heard of virtuosic filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, but his father might be less familiar to you. Yet, you may still have heard his work — Tarkovsky the younger includes recordings of Arseny reading his own poetry in M...

Show Notes : This week, Cameron will dive into the novel Cecil the Lion Had to Die by Ukrainian historian, journalist, and novelist Olena Stiazhkina — a novel diving into the intricacies of family life and identity formation through the late Soviet Union, the chaotic years following, and into the early years of the war.  He’s joined by Dominique Hoffman, who translated the novel, and has a great w...

Cameron pops in at the end of the month to talk about episodes you can expect in the coming months. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Pick up a copy of The Talnikov Family from Columbia University Press ! Show Notes : This week, Cameron gets into Avdotya Panaeva’s The Talnikov Family with its translator Fiona Bell. The novel, set in 1820s St. Petersburg, follows Natasha Talnikova’s life in an abusive household, setting readers into some of the lesser-read side of Imperial Russian life.  Bell is a writer and scholar from St. Pete...

Show Notes: Our Christmas gift to you is a non-clickbait title. Unusual for December, huh? TL;DR: Matt is going to be stepping back from the podcast for the time being. Cameron will be continuing to produce episodes going forward, shifting the focus toward interviewing translators and authors about their work. Will the boys ride again? It's an open question. Listen to the podcast for the full...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron dive into the short story “The Performance,” from Sergei Dovlatov’s book  The Zone . Get ready to dive into the most underrepresented point-of-view in the Soviet camp system: the guards. Well, kind of. Get ready to get stagnant and talk a bit about the state of the Soviet Union in the 1970s, but mostly about a play in a prison camp where all the old Bolshev...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron get into their last Office Hours of the year, tackling the future of literature, whether or not Tolstoy is still relevant, which Russian literature icon would win in a rap battle and — most importantly — the tale of John Moritsugu, a man who tricked PBS into funding filth. God bless public broadcasting.  Major themes: Raskolnikov the rap god, The future of...

Heads up: This episode will contain conversation about incest throughout. Take that into consideration as you head into it. Also sorry about the kitchen noises in the background of some portions. Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron learn about narrative-causes and narrative-effects in The UnSimple , a novella by Ukrainian writer Taras Prokhasko and translated by Uilliam Blacker. Set in the Ca...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron dig into the short story collection To Hell WIth Poets , authored by Kazakh writer Baqytgul Sarmekova and translated by Mirgul Kali. The collection, published in English by Tilted Axis Press in 2024, explores rural-urban divides (with a focus on the dissatisfaction life doles out on both sides), troubled people, sexual exploitation, and the indulgence of no...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron host Office Hours, speaking about the wider state of reading as well as some non-Slavic lit they’ve been getting in to. Tune in to find their opinions about Lament for Julia by Susan Taubes and Z by Vassilis Vassilikos, whether or not literary analysis has any meaning at all, and whether we’re too concerned with what straight men are reading. Grab your extr...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron dive into Sergei Eisenstein’s landmark film Strike! (1925) to get a better look into his foundational ideas around montage and film composition amidst a tragic tale of a failed strike. Yes, they will be talking about the cow scene for most of the episode. Not sure what we’re talking about? You’ll have to tune in to find out.  Major themes: Cow slaughter, In...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron dive into Andriy Sodomora’s short story collection The Tears & Smiles of Things with the help of its translators Roman Ivashkiv and Sabrina Jaszi. The collection draws together Sodomora’s reflections on life, ancient texts, and the difficulties of translation. The book holds the subtitle “Stories, Sketches, Meditations.” It’s never easy to tell which is...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron talk Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song , dropping the nuclear bomb (a timely conversation), and torturing your roommates by cooking cabbage. They’ll also be getting into a topic that everyone has been dying to know more about: Jordan Peterson Academy. Well…maybe not, no one has asked us about it, but Cameron is dying to know how they got his email. Get read to get...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron are down with the sickness of Schulzomania, covering parts of the short story collection “The Street of Crocodiles” by Polish-Jewish literary superstar Bruno Schulz. They’ll be talking about “Visitation,” “Tailor’s Dummies,” and the eponymous “The Street of Crocodiles,” delving deep into Schulz’s surreal vision of his family and city. Order versus chaos, ta...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron chart new territory by covering the novella Devil's Yard by Yugoslav writer, poet, and diplomat (at varying times) Ivo Andrić. Covering a story within a story, they’ll have plenty to say about the construction of narrative, storytelling from the core and periphery of empire, and what’s up with everybody talking about eyes, huh? Grab your prison blanket,...

Note: This episode originally aired in February 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series  Life and Fate  episodes they thought deserved more attention. Pick up  a copy of  The Czech Manuscripts  here . Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by Professor David L. Cooper to talk about his new book  The Czech Manuscripts: Forge...

Note: This episode originally aired in January 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series  Life and Fate  episodes they thought deserved more attention. Pick up a copy of Ochre & Rust from Green Linden Press’ website. Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron tackle some of the work of Sergey Gandlevsky, translated by Philip J. Metres a...

Note: This episode originally aired in April 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series Life and Fate episodes they thought deserved more attention. You can pick up a copy of Dr. Maya Vinokour’s book  Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture  here.  Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron sit down with Dr. Maya Vinokour to t...

Show Notes : They said it couldn’t be done; they said it was too much work; they say it was simply too much Grossman . (The ‘they’ here is Matt and Cameron, to be clear). This week, more than 7 months after starting their Life and Fate series, Matt and Cameron proved them (us) wrong by covering Chapters 49 through 61 of Part 3. It’s time to say goodbye to characters we’ve followed across nearly 90...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron stay in Stalingrad to the bitter end, covering Chapters 19 to 48 in Part 3 of Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate . Stalin’s phone calls, the 6th Army’s surrender, and senseless kindness oh my! It’s all coming together. Get your horsemeat and get ready to tune in. Major themes: Unrewarded kindness, family ties, the State and the individual The music used in thi...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron dive into the 1924 film Aelita , directed by Yakov Protazanov, to learn more about very early Soviet sci-fi, New Economic Policy anxiety, and Martian socialist revolution. It’s the most fun you didn’t know you could have with a silent film. Get your plans for your rocket ship, write “Anta Odeli Uta” on your window, and tune in! Major themes: Is popular medi...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron return to the salt mines of Reddit to address some of the internet’s most asked questions, such as “Can atheists understand Dostoevsky?” and “Does Crime and Punishment ever get interesting?” Alongside that, they’ll also be talking about some novels and works they’d like to cover but don’t work with the normal format. Major themes: Pierre winky face, Dostoev...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron finish the encirclement of Paulus’ 6th Army in Stalingrad as they cover Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate from Part 2, Chapter 51 through Part 3, Chapter 18. After fighting from the back foot for months — exhausting all those still on the front line, civilian and soldier alike — it’s time for the USSR to swing two great hammers down into the fascist forces. D...