The Slavic Literature Pod

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron talk about what they’ve been doing and reading in their free time, how knowing Russian has changed their understanding of Russian-language literature, and dunk on their International Relations degrees. Also, join our Discord ! I promise that we'll only likely be deep in a weird conversation when you enter.  Major themes: Warhammer 40k, Thoughts (™) on ha...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron finish the second half of Fathers and Children by Ivan Turgenev. In doing so, they discuss the finer points of dueling etiquette, the most ironically romantic death possible, and go on about the Narodnaya Volya again . The humor and conflict are finely interwoven into the latter half of this text and we hope you appreciate it as much as we do! Major themes:...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron read chapters 1 through 17 of Fathers and Children (1862) by Ivan Turgenev. The literary responses of this book include many of the most prominent in the Russian canon, not least of all is Chernyshevsky’s What is to Be Done? and the myriad responses that book induced (among its respondents were Dostoevsky and Lenin!). But what exactly makes this book such a...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron delve into Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, along with Dr. Kaitlin Shirley, who earned her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas, Austin. Her dissertation, entitled “Dostoevsky and the Rousseau Trap: Considerations on the Man of Nature and Truth. And on His Proposed Reformation,” analyzes many of the themes in Notes which we w...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron explore “The Overcoat,” by Nikolai Gogol. Once called, “the greatest Russian short every written,” by Vladimir Nabokov, this story has been adapted into plays, ballets, and over a dozen movies—all of which are a testament to the power of Gogol’s writing, though none are more so than the text itself. Join us as we jump into the story of Akaky Akakievich’s te...

Show Notes :  This week Matt and Cameron read “Twenty-Six Men and a Girl,” by Maxim Gorky. Born Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, it was only when he had begun publishing fiction in his early twenties that Gorky would adopt his later-famous pseudonym, likely as a reflection of the critical lens he took in his analysis of the then-Russian Empire (‘Gorky,’ in Russian, means bitter). This story, published i...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron read Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov. Although the Gulag narrative was most popularized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's works, Shalamov’s tales are equally compelling, especially driven by their mix of reality and fantasy. As a not one, not two, but three-time convict sentenced to hard labor Shalamov wrote stories that combined his real experiences with fan...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron finish Zakhar Prilepin’s Sankya (affectionately retitled Sankya: Reeeeee ), reading chapters 8-13. They’ll also be going over the ties between the messaging of the story and some of Prilepin’s real-life political engagement. Major themes: fatherlessness, arson, murderous intent, National Bolshevism. 8:00 - I meant to say 2014. Please don’t come for me in th...

Show Notes : In this episode, Matt and Cameron drink too much. Major themes: Russia, melancholia, Banana Republic, desecrating holy sites. If you enjoyed this episode, then you might interested in supporting us on Patreon . You can get all kinds of goodies there, including access to future bonus episodes, input on what we'll be reading in the near future, and even a hand-written thank you note...

Show Notes : Content Warning: there will be minor discussion of sexual violence at 27:53-28:23, 32:40-32:55, and 34:40-35:13.  There will also be a description of graphic violence at 33:52-34:06.  This week, Matt and Cameron will be reading the first half of Sankya by Zakhar Prilepin. Prilepin—a former soldier, OMON officer, and journalist—is famous for his literary work exploring the malaise and...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron will be reading “Alyosha the Pot,” a short story by Leo Tolstoy which was once called one of his “most perfect creations,” by literary historian Dmitri Mirsky. Tolstoy is a writer who needs no introduction. Most famously known as the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina , Tolstoy also wrote prolifically about Russian life, semi-autobiographically, and...

Show Notes :  This week, Matt and Cameron will be delving into a few short stories from the collection Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel. Babel was an early Soviet writer who covered the Polish-Soviet 1920 war as a journalist and would later use these experiences as the basis for this very story collection. If you’re interested in getting a first-person look into what exactly the various conflicts across...

Show Notes : This week, Matt and Cameron take on “The Nose,” by Nikolai Gogol. Written in 1835-6, “The Nose” tells the story of a mid-ranking St. Petersburg bureaucrat who loses his nose. The story recounts how Major Kovalyov’s nose takes on a life of its own, how he is not of high enough rank to talk to it, and, finally, how he gets it back. Major themes: Table of Ranks, Peter the Great, Magical...