Tag: Literature

JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Wonder Confronts Certainty’ Review: Lessons From Russian Literature” – WSJ

Headlines, History, Soviet Union, JRL NewsBlog, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Military, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

“The writings of Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and others are littered with clues for understanding the 21st-century world.” “Books of cultural criticism seldom shed a piercing light on headline events. However, readers of ‘Wonder Confronts Certainty,’ Gary Saul Morson’s masterly panorama of classic Russian literature and its hinterland of ideas, will find their understanding of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s recent botched rebellion against […]

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RUSSIALINK: “The 2021 Russian National Bestseller Award Goes to Alexander Pelevin; His winning novel “Pokrov-17″ is a dystopian mystery” – Moscow Times

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

… The new Russian literary reality, as seen through the National Bestseller lens, is a world of drug addicts, volunteers, online messengers, and Russia’s trademark never-ending search of justice […]

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Tom Beyer: “[SEELANGS] The John Glad interviews”

Education, Academia, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
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Subject: [SEELANGS] The John Glad interviews Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 From: Tom Beyer <beyer@MIDDLEBURY.EDU> In the early 1980’s John Glad who was then working at the Kennan Institute in Washington D.C. recorded a series of videotaped interviews with leading Russian writers. The original video recordings were deposited with the University of Maryland. Professor Glad himself retained his own copies […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Pushkin House Announces 2020 Book Prize Short List; Six titles that are all required reading for Russia watchers” – Moscow Times

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michele A. Berdy – April 29, 2020) Michele A. Berdy is the Arts Editor and author of “The Russian Word’s Worth,” a collection of her columns. On Tuesday Pushkin House in London announced its short list of nominations for the 2020 Pushkin House Russian Book Prize. The prize has been awarded annually since 2013 to […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “[Chekhov on the Occasion of Cholera Epidemics of 1892]” – Vladimir Golstein/ facebook

Coronavirus, Covid-19 Pandemic, Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, History, Soviet Union, JRL NewsBlog, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Anton Chekhov file photo

(Vladimir Golstein – Facebook – April 14, 2020 – facebook.com/vladimir.golstein/posts/10216416791108118) “Just came across a fascinating set of letters from Chekhov on the occasion of cholera epidemics of 1892. One more proof of what an amazing individual he was. Here is his letter to his friend and publisher, a conservative journalist, Suvorin, written from Chekhov’s Melikhovo estate. …” MELIHOVO, August 1. […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin] Visit to Alexander Solzhenitsyn Museum of Russia Abroad” – KremlinRu

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexander Solzhenitsyn file photo

(Kremlin.ru – July 24, 2019) [Text with photos: en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/61092] Vladimir Putin visited the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Museum of Russia Abroad. Visiting the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Museum of Russia Abroad. With President of the Solzhenitsyn Aid Fund Natalia Solzhenitsyna, Director of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Museum of Russia Abroad Viktor Moskvin, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, right, and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Congratulations to Natalya Solzhenitsyna on her birthday; Vladimir Putin congratulated Natalya Solzhenitsyna on her 80th birthday.” – KremlinRu

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Kremlin.ru – July 22, 2019) [More in Russian: kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/61092] The message reads, in part: “You have devoted your life, energy, and creative gift to promoting charity and enlightenment; you stood at the origins of important educational and humanitarian projects, such as the Museum of Russia Abroad, which has become the centre for preserving a huge stratum of Russian history and […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman – a sweeping tale of war and life; This immense prequel to ‘Life and Fate’ on the siege of Stalingrad finally gets its English translation” – Financial Times/ Tobias Grey

History, Soviet Union, JRL NewsBlog, Military
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

“… At nearly 1,000 pages Stalingrad is slightly longer than its sequel. … Grossman places an earlier focus on the Shaposhnikov family and friends … their lives … thrown into disarray by the impending Battle of Stalingrad. Hitler’s huge offensive on the Eastern Front has driven Soviet forces into a prolonged retreat. Stalingrad … on a clifftop by the Volga […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Self-Help Lessons From the Russian Classics; In “Self Improvement Tolstoy-Style,” an English Russophile explores life and literature. [Viv Groskop]” – Moscow Times

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Leo Tolstoy file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 18, 2019) Writer and comedian Viv Groskop has faced many rooms full of strangers expecting to be amused in her career as a stand-up. But what really scared her in the run-up to the publication of her latest book were the Russians. “I was terrified they would be offended,” Groskop said. She needn’t have […]

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Yermolai Solzhenitsyn: “Re: Some information on SolzhenitsynCenter.org”

History, Soviet Union, In Memoriam, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Alexander Solzhenitsyn file photo

Subject: Some information on solzhenitsyncenter.org Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 From: Yermolai Solzhenitsyn <yermolai_solzhenitsyn@mckinsey.com> To: davidjohnson@starpower.net Dear David, We saw recently a piece on JRL Russia Insider, russia-insider.com, March 18, 2019 Great Russian Documentary on Life of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Video) [https://russia-insider.com/en/great-russian-documentary-life-alexander-solzhenitsyn-video/ri26536], where the authors were wondering whether there were English language copies of all the three films in question. We […]

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Putin Hails Solzhenitsyn As ‘True Patriot’ On Centenary Of His Birth

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexander Solzhenitsyn file photo

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – MOSCOW – Dec. 11, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/putin-solzhenitsyn-true-patriot-centenary-birth/29650018.html) President Vladimir Putin has praised late Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as a “true and real patriot” after unveiling a statue honoring the Nobel Prize-winning author in central Moscow. Speaking at the unveiling ceremony marking the centenary of Solzhenitsyn’s birth, Putin […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin appearance:] Monument to Alexander Solzhenitsyn unveiled in Moscow” – KremlinRu

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexander Solzhenitsyn file photo

(Kremlin.ru – December 11, 2018) The President attended the unveiling ceremony for a monument to Alexander Solzhenitsyn in Moscow’s Tagansky District on the 100th anniversary of the writer’s birth. The bronze monument sitting on a granite pedestal was designed by National Artist of Russia Andrei Kovalchuk. His project won the architecture and sculpture tender held in 2017 by the Union […]

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Francis A. Boyle: “Solzhenitsyn at Harvard (JRL #105 item 31)”

History, Soviet Union, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Alexander Solzhenitsyn file photo

Subject: Solzhenitsyn at Harvard (JRL #105 item 31) Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2018 From: Boyle, Francis A <fboyle@illinois.edu> Forty years ago, I went there just to hear him speak. Originally I was not going to bother to attend Harvard’s Commencement in June of 1978 just to pick up my Master’s Degree in Political Science from the Harvard Graduate School of […]

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NEWSLINK: “Three Questions: Russian intellectual history as a practice and project (Historia Nova Interviews)” – Nancy Condee/ NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia

Education, Academia, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Newslinks
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“Background: On the fifth anniversary of the Historia Nova Prize, Irina Prokhorova poses three questions to the HN winners on the current state of intellectual history in Russian studies. …”

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Robert Donaldson : Eulogy delivered at a Celebration of Life for Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko.

In Memoriam, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Yevgeny Yevtushenko file photo, adapted from image at archives.gov

Subject: Eulogy for #Yevtushenko Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 From: Robert Donaldson <robert-donaldson@utulsa.edu> Here is a somewhat shortened version of the Eulogy I delivered last evening at the University of Tulsa’s “Celebration of Life” service for Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who taught for us for a quarter of a century. The service featured readings (in English and Russian) by two of his […]

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NEWSLINK: INTERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION: “Yevgeny Yevtushenko – His Poetry Engaged and Enraged Readers at Home and Abroad [2017 reprint of 1987 Interview” – The Progressive/ Yevgeny Yevtushenko/ Katrina vanden Heuvel

History, Soviet Union, In Memoriam, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Newslinks
Yevgeny Yevtushenko file photo, adapted from image at archives.gov

“Editor’s Note: Yevgeny Yevtushenko, internationally acclaimed Russian poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and film director died on April 1, 2017. He was 83. In honor of his tremendous work and legacy, we are sharing an interview he did with Katrina vanden Heuvel for our magazine in 1987. …”

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The Kukotsky Enigma: a sprawling philosophical epic with a Tolstoyan edge

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

Leo Tolstoy, often an influence in Ulitskaya’s work, pervades this novel about family life, science, music, memory and the power of love. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – PHOEBE TAPLIN, SPECIAL TO RBTH – October 11, 2016) In 2001, novelist Ludmila Ulitskaya was the first woman to win Russia’s prestigious Booker Prize. The winning book was her fourth novel, […]

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Six Russian writers to watch at the London Book Fair

Britain, UK, United Kingdom, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

A delegation of Russian authors is coming to London on April 11-14 for the city’s international book fair. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ALEXANDRA GUZEVA, RBTH – April 7, 2016) The Read Russia international project returns to the London Book Fair. Among daily meetings with award-wining contemporary writers, this year the Russian stand (5D169) at Olympia Exhibition Center […]

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Russians’ Favorite Writer? The Winner is…

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Leo Tolstoy file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 15, 2016) The Levada Center has recently published the results of a nationwide survey asking Russian citizens to name their favorite writer. Lev Tolstoy took first place with 45 percent of the vote, Fyodor Dostoevsky came in second with 23 percent and Anton Chekhov took third place with 18 percent. Russia is known worldwide […]

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Censors would starve in modern Russia

Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

Maya Kucherskaya, a writer, linguist, literary critic and director of the newly opened Creative Writing School, the first such center for budding authors in Russia, talked to RBTH about professional writing, censorship and Russia’s book market. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – YULIA VINOGRADOVA, SPECIAL TO RBTH – February 17, 2016) RBTH: How is the Creative Writing School different […]

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How Russians react to BBC’s War and Peace

Britain, UK, United Kingdom, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Leo Tolstoy file photo

RBTH’s pick of the best comments made by Tolstoy’s compatriots. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NATALIA MASHINISTOVA, SPECIAL TO RBTH – January 26, 2016) Although BBC’s new War and Peace adaptation hasn’t aired on Russian television yet, the most curious Russians have found a way to check it out on the internet. Any foreign attempt to adapt what […]

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Unwrapping Christmas in Russian literature

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

The decorations are up, the nights are drawing in – in the northern hemisphere, at least – and gift-hunters are braving the crowds ahead of Christmas. In Russia, however, this celebration has a different meaning. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – PETER BEECH, SPECIAL TO RBTH – January 7, 2016) The majority of Russians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, […]

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2015 in review: Eight key events in Russian culture

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bolshoi Theater file photo

This year brought mixed fortunes for Russian culture, with successes in the realms of literature, art and ballet offset by the growing interference of the Orthodox Church in the cultural sphere. RBTH looks back at 8 important events in Russia’s cultural life in 2015 that had an international impact. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Oleg Krasnov – December […]

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RIA Novosti: Putin warns against moves to close Ukrainian library in Moscow

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(RIA Novosti – December 25, 2015) Vladimir Putin has intervened in the case of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, whose director is in custody and facing charges of inciting hatred, RIA Novosti news agency reported on 25 December. Natalya Sharina was held on 28 October when the Investigations Committee carried out a search of the Library and found […]

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How much do we know about contemporary Russian writers?

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – PHOEBE TAPLIN, SPECIAL TO RBTH – December 9, 2015) As December 2015 sees another week of Russian literary events in New York City, RBTH asks Anglophone readers and publishers about their favorites and bestsellers among 21st-century Russian fiction. When English-speaking readers talk about Russian novels, they generally mean Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Bulgakov and […]

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NEWSWATCH AP: “Russians Read Tolstoy’s War and Peace in 60-Hour TV Marathon”

JRL NewsBlog, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Leo Tolstoy file photo

AP covers a televised reading of War and Peace. More than 1,300 Russians are reading Leo Tolstoy’s notoriously lengthy novel “War and Peace” aloud in a 60-hour marathon on national television. The public readings, pre-recorded at locations all over Russia, from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to remote Arctic islands, have been coordinated by Tolstoy’s great-great-granddaughter and feature Russians […]

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Despite Economic Woes, the Book Fair is Bigger Than Ever

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Justin Lifflander – November 28, 2015) Other countries have book fairs where publishers come to do business. The 17th International Book Fair for High-Quality Fiction and Non-Fiction – commonly simply referred to as “nonfiction” – taking place in Moscow this week is very much an event for readers. And as such it is a good […]

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Case against Moscow’s Library of Ukrainian Literature may be closed

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Vladimir Markin file photo

(Interfax – October 30, 2015) A criminal investigation launched against the director of the Moscow-based Library of Ukrainian Literature, Natalya Sharina, who is a suspect in a case opened into the spreading of extremist literature, may be closed, a source in law enforcement agencies told Interfax. “The case against Sharina may be closed on the basis of the Prosecutor’s Office’s […]

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Online reading of Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ to be open to all; Any Russian speakers can apply to take part in December event

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Leo Tolstoy file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Oleg Krasnov, RBTH – October 12, 2015) Anyone on the planet who speaks Russian will be able to read a chapter from Russian writer Lev Tolstoy’s classic War and Peace directly online as part of an upcoming event The “War and Peace: Let’s Read The Novel” event will take place between Dec. 8 […]

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Russia’s Book Industry Wanes as Russians Stop Reading

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

  (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anastasia Bazenkova – July 30, 2015) More Russian bookshops are facing closure every year, shaking the publishing industry and threatening writing as a profession. Bookselling, never the most profitable retail business, is struggling to stay afloat thanks to expensive shop rental rates and decreasing interest from customers. In Moscow, considered the most well-read city […]

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The Top 10 Summer Books for Russia Watchers

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 3, 2015) Here at The Moscow Times culture desk, we like to think of ourselves as highbrows. We like opera. We spend our evenings reading the “Great Authors.” We think we understand the “Black Square.” But even we like to kick back on a hot summer weekend with a can of beer and a […]

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Quiet days for books on Russia published in first half of 2015

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – BOOK REVIEW: Chris Weafer in Moscow – June 18, 2015) The first half of 2015 can hardly be described as a vintage period for new books about Russia. It seems that the Ukraine crisis and recession have led to many authors delaying completing their work until there is a little more clarity on how […]

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NEWSWATCH Foreign Policy Magazine: Is Russian Literature Dead? How the land of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy became a book lover’s afterthought

JRL NewsBlog, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

[“Is Russian Literature Dead? How the land of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy became a book lover’s afterthought” – Foreign Policy Magazine – Owen Matthews – March 24, 2015] Writing in Foreign Policy Magazine Owen Matthews addresses the lack of attention and celebrity for Russian literature created in recent decades, at least among American readers. The last Russian novel to become a genuine […]

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NEWSLINK: Valentin Rasputin, Russian Writer Who Led ‘Village Prose’ Movement, Dies at 77

In Memoriam, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Newslinks
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

Valentin Rasputin, a patriarch of the so-called village prose writers who emerged in the Soviet Union in the 1960s to address moral and environmental issues and depict the remains of a rural Russia about to be consumed by industrialization, died here on Saturday. He was 77. …   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/europe/valentin-rasputin-russian-writer-who-led-village-prose-movement-dies-at-77.html?_r=0

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Russia about to Lose Its ‘Thick’ Journals and Culture Ministry Won’t Help

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 22, 2015) Russia’s “thick” journals, the pride of its intellectual life for more than a century are dying, the result of changes in the media marketplace, but despite 2015 having been declared “The Year of Literature” in Russia, the Russian government is unwilling to do anything to save them. Indeed, it […]

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Russia Beyond the Headlines: Five Russian books for your Christmas gift list

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Fyodor Dostoyevskty file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Phoebe Taplin, special to RBTH – December 3, 2014) Book reviews: Great Russian reads sparkling with wit, humor and drama that should be on your Christmas gift list. 1) ‘Crime and Punishment’ Fyodor Dostoevsky Hailed by AN Wilson in The Spectator as a “truly great translation” that captures the novel’s “knife-edge between sentimentality […]

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Tolstoy’s Canadian Doukhobors Return to Russia Over 100 Years After Fleeing

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Religion
Leo Tolstoy file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – YASNAYA POLYANA, Tula Region – October 3, 2014) When they were in their 50s, Elaine and Alfred Podovinikoff packed up their lives in their native Canada and emigrated to a muddy, provincial Russian settlement with a single paved road and freely roaming chickens. The Podovinikoffs resettled just south of Tula – an […]

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Solzhenitsyn Spat Sees Mironov Attack Putin Ally

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexander Solzhenitsyn file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – September 29, 2014) As Moscow’s weather gradually cools down, the temperature of political discourse is definitely heating up. A public spat over the place in history of novelist and historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn led last week to some fighting words that culminated with a popular actor, Yevgeny Mironov, slinging rhetorical mud at a […]

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When literature came under state control: 80 years since the First Congress of Soviet Writers

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – August 27, 2014) When literature came under state control: 80 years since the First Congress of Soviet Writers When the First Congress of Soviet Writers opened on Aug. 17, 1934 in Moscow, it marked a watershed in Soviet literature. The artistic freedom that had characterized the turbulent 1920s was now gone, replaced by forced […]

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Making sense of war: The perspective of five great Russian writers

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Military
Battle of Stalingrad file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Mikhail Butov, special to RBTH – July 23, 2014) The author is a writer and Russian Booker Prize winner. The current conflict in Ukraine is raising sensitive ethical questions, forcing us to consider the justifications and meaning of using military force, and whether it should be allowed at all. RBTH looks at what […]

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The Russian novel returns: Solovki prison, the defense industry, and an agronomist called Gogol

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Georgy Manaev, RBTH – June 15, 2014) The shortlist for the ninth annual national literary prize “The Big Book” has been unveiled. This is Russia’s most influential literary award in mainstream prose and – with a prize fund of $174,000 – its most lucrative. The winners will be announced in November The jury […]

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Russian Writers Call for Free Speech as Pasternak’s Birthday Celebrated

Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – D. Garrison Golubock and Olga Chetina – February 17, 2014) Feb. 11 marked the 124th anniversary of the birth of Boris Pasternak, the famed Soviet author best known for his book “Doctor Zhivago,” which was published abroad after being banned in the Soviet Union. Pasternak’s birthday was celebrated with great fanfare by Russia’s literati, including […]

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Literature on the front lines: Russian writers in the Caucasus conflicts

Caucasus, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Caucasus, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Phoebe Taplin, special to RBTH – February 11, 2014) The tradition of literature exploring conflict in the Caucasus began with the great stories by Lermontov and Tolstoy, and is carried on by today’s writers: RBTH presents 5 contemporary authors, each with military experience and individual views on duty, violence and the casualties of […]

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