The Slavic Literature Pod is your guide to one of the most important-yet understudied-literary traditions. Every episode, Russian literature PhD Candidate Matt Gerasimovich and Personable Audio Expert Cameron Lallana dive deep into big books, short stories, film, and everything in between. You’ll get an approachable introduction to the scholarship and big ideas surrounding this canon three Fridays per month.
The idea of the unreliable narrator hardly applies to Pozdnyshev if one reads Tolstoy's epilogue or manifesto. Tolstoy's ideas about women, sex, children, music, at that particular time of his life, correspond precisely with those of the manic narcissist Pozdnyshev.
Well done. I am reading the book now, so it's nice to find this podcast, and here your discussion. I am about 50% done the book, and it's wonderful! Thank you both for your commentary.
Shalamov's poetic beauty far surpasses Solzhenitsyn's. While Solzhenitsyn was a political writer focused on polemics, Shalamov was an artist whose work delved into deeper realms of human experience. Despite his struggles with insanity and profound brokenness, he possessed a soul of rare beauty. His writings resonate with poignant depth, evoking profound emotional responses. Reading "Kolyma," in particular, moved me to tears unlike any other work. It served as a revelation, awakening me to the existence of malevolence in the world and the imperative to assert ourselves against it. My passive demeanor was challenged, and the ideals of Tolstoy that once guided me were shaken to their core.
I’m reading Crime and Punishment for the first time. I actually really enjoyed Part Two, and exploring Raskolnikov’s immediate mindset/“descent into madness” after committing his crime 😆. I’m in Part Four now, but I feel like this section really sets the stage to show the flaws in his own theory that gave him “permission” to murder the pawn broker.
As voluminous as War and Peace, vast characters were created by Leo Tolstoy in a world stage. I think he's asking - WHERE DO YOU PUT YOURSELF AMONG THESE CHARACTERS ?
I love you guys' videos, and it's always so fun to hear Dr. Shirley join the podcast. Have been listening for a few months now on Spotify, very sick. Never stop doing what you do!
Thank you for your discussion. It is a great book. Guzel Yakhina is a fantasticallybtalented writer. You put the book into an historical perspective that helps the reader to understand the context of the plot.
I've just realized that with my circle of friends, its easier to pay Tipsy Tolstoy monthly to be Russian Lit friends. Absolutely love the podcast guys! This is my ~4th read of W&P and you guys are shedding light on things I've never notice. Excited for more!
One book I could thoroughly recommend you both is the Case of Comrade Yulayev by Victor Serge. It is great and he was an eyewitness to this fascinating period.
I really like the character development of Ignatov. In fact, by the start of part three, I felt like the title of the book doesn't entirely justify the context of the story. It would have made more sense to me if the book was called "Ignatov" lol.
This is one of those books that kept popping up in essays and articles I read. Most of them where on history of literature or Turgenev, or Dostoevsky. The lack of subtlety and breaking the 4th wall reminded me of Charles Perrault's tales, which end with one, or even 2 explanations, in case the readers didn't get the meaning.
I was reading a book on Russian espionage where this author was mentioned. In late 1936, his brother-in-law (Colonel Boris Ignatyevich Gudz) wrote a secret denunciation of him. Shavalom had already been arrested ten years earlier for protesting against Stalin (where he met his wife). One night in January 1937, the NKVD came for Shalamov at the communal apartment he shared with Gudz in Moscow. Gudz's family was not safe, as his other sister was taken away in May of that year. She would later die on Kolyma Peninsula. Gudz lost his position in Red Army Intelligence, but was spared the gulag. He became a bus driver and continued to live in the same apartment until his death in 2006, at the age of 104. Gudz later said "Every night I awaited arrest". For some reason he was spared.
@@foofkanon "An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent" by Owen Matthews. It's an incredible story of a double agent in Stalinist Russia. Doesn't go into detail about Gulags, but describes in detail the level of paranoia that existed in the soviet intelligence agencies.
@@johnloizos3902 thanks .I read Matthews book Stalin's children.I was going to get the Sorge one on audible and will now as the guy is definitely the best spy ever and a womanising dude.Fasinating info though on shalamov though cheers mate.
