The Slavic Literature Pod

The Slavic Literature Pod
undefined
Apr 29, 2022 • 1h 3min

Crime and Punishment Epilogue (w/ Dr. Kate Holland)

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by the knowledgeable Dr. Kate Holland to cover the epilogue of Crime and Punishment as well as discuss some of the overarching themes of the book as a whole. After the dark, dark time that is Part 6, we finally get to kick back and spend some time with Raskolnikov in Siberia and his ups, his downs (mostly his downs) as he and the people around him try to figure out what comes next. Grab your choicest homebrewed booze and tune in!Major themes: Reddit Theme Analysis, Raskolnikov’s dream is just Twitter, A Thoughtful and Sensitive Napoeleon01:14 - Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity eds. Katherine Bowers and Kate Holland02:50 - Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: A Reader’s Guide by Deborah Martinsen03:33 - Approaches to Teaching Crime and Punishment by Michael Katz and Alexander Burry04:27 - “Book Panel. Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: A Reader’s Guide by Deborah Martinsen” with speakers Kate Holland, Marcia Morris, Katherine Bowers, Greta Matzner-Gore, Ronald Meyer, and Erica Drennan.08:28 - “Raskolnikov’s mother” I mean20:24 - Mikhail Bakhtin23:24 - “In Defense of the Epilogue of “Crime and Punishment ” “ by David Matual24:02 - “The Improbable Poetics of Crime and Punishment by Greta Matzner-Gore can be found in Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity39:17 - BildungsromanThe music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Apr 15, 2022 • 1h 21min

Crime and Punishment p.6 (w/ Dr. Kaitlin Shirley)

Show Notes:Content warning for this Episode: Child abuse, pedophilia, sexual assault, and suicide.This week, Matt and Cameron are happily joined once again by Dr. Kaitlin Shirley to cover the final part of Crime and Punishment (minus the epilogue!). And wow is her expertise needed to cover this whopper of a section. Among a bucket of unpleasantry, we’ll be wrapping up Svidrigailov’s story and start to bring Raskolnikov’s own story to its conclusion. Normally I’d make a joke here, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for this one. Grab a drink to cope and tune in.You can also find Dr. Kaitlin Shirley as Dostoevsky or Doesn’t She in the following places: dostoevskyordoesntshe.com | Twitter @doestoevsky_txt | Instagram @dostoevskyordoesntshe | Tumblr | The link to the Dostoevsky Book Club can be found here!Major themes: Dunia keeps that MF thang on her, Comparisons to the Meek One, Getting to a Full Yeltsin.The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Apr 1, 2022 • 55min

Crime and Punishment p.5

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron slow things down a bit and attend a funeral in part 5 of Crime and Punishment. This time we’ll start by recommending that you grab your cheapest wine or liquor because we are going to be spending some significant time in Luzhin’s POV in this part. Pay attention to the things that he, ironically, doesn’t. Perhaps it would be crass to tell you to enjoy this part - but kick back and tune into this wake gone very, very wrong anyway!Major themes: Self-Deception, The power of Sonia’s worldview, funeral parties.The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Mar 18, 2022 • 52min

Crime and Punishment p.4

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron spend some time with unpleasant people in Part 4 of Crime and Punishment as Svidrigailov appears and everything is worse now. Awkward family dinners, debating your fiance into loving you, and telling your only friend to drown herself ahoy! Many things get weird in this part. Sit down, find the light of God as Dostoevsky would want, and turn in!Quick note: the section between 28:40 - 30:05 is an advertisement. Subscribe to LingoPie here! And you can purchase books on Libro.fm here.Major themes: Strange Men in your Bedroom, Financial Security, Reasonable Expectations for a Fiancé10:12 - Send it to tipsytolstoy@gmail.com43:36: History.com coverage of the My Lai Massacre.47:12 - Sonya, SIlent No More: A Response To the Woman Question in Doestoevsky’s Crime and Punishment by Elizabeth BlakeThe music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Mar 4, 2022 • 52min

Crime and Punishment p.3

Some ways you can support the people of Ukraine:For Refugees-Ukrainian Relief Efforts are fundraisers which GoFundMe has collected in one place after verifying that the money is going where the fund claims that it is. These funds have a variety of purposes, so you can look for an individual organization or purpose.-The International Rescue Committee works to assist refugees all over the globe. This link will support the IRC infrastructure currently on the ground in Poland.-Polish Humanitarian Action provides support to internally displaced Ukrainians as well as those refugees who have come to Poland.Medical Aid-Voice of Children is a Ukrainian organization that was formed in 2015 to provide psychological help to children affected by war.-United Help Ukraine focuses on raises awareness on the war in Ukraine (their primary goal prior to the invasion) as well as distributing food and medical supplies to people affected by the war.For Journalists-The Kyiv Independent is a recently launched organization that emerged from the staff from the long-running Kyiv Post, which was shut down by its owner last November.-Free Press Unlimited, an organziation that supports free and independent journalism around the world.Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron dive into family dynamics in Part 3 of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Along with Luzhin, now Pulcheria and Dunia enter the scene to see their beloved son/brother - only to find him rather different than they remember. Grab your bottom-shelf beer and sit down, we’re about to see the fundamental separation of the human heart from those around us.Major themes: Hot Petersburg Summer, Regretting your drunk behavior, regretting your sober behavior**That sober behavior being writing an article justifying your own act of premeditated murder several months ago07:26 - “Bill, Bill. I got your note…I ask you just one thing, Just give Europe to Russia.”The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Feb 18, 2022 • 1h 4min

Crime and Punishment p.2

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron continue with Part 2 of our Crime and Punishment series, now with a very heavy emphasis on punishment. Grab some black tea and a beer, then join us as we discuss Raskolnikov’s psychosomatic torture and his attemps to confess all while Razumikhin continues to be the best friend alive. And you know it wouldn’t be Dostoevsky without a death or two in the mix!Don’t forget to read “Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity," a collection edited by Katherine Bowers and Kate Holland!Major themes: Dostoevsky and Rationalism, Are ideas real?,01:24 - The Committee by Sonahhal Ibrahim, if you’re wondering.04:30 - Here’s a link to our Discord, if you’d like to join!04:56 - Here’s a link to our website!24:38 - Now that I’m editing, my phrasing strikes me as confusing. To be clear, while I’m conflating the actual Crystal Palace and the cafe in Crime and Punishment, they are very much different places.34:28 - “The Improbable Poetics of Crime and Punishment” by Greta Matzner-Gore42:43 - Holden Caulfield, not Caulfeld, I should note. Also you should read Franny and Zooey by Salinger. Granted, it’s been years since I read Franny and Zooey, but the novel occupies the same place that Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood or Tim O’Brien’s July, July do for me. Novels that discuss…youth, meaning, age - not a theme, but rather a central topic of all the book. I don’t know how to describe it but for a young man who struggled deeply with ideas of meaning and authenticity, it meant a lot to me.The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Feb 4, 2022 • 1h 4min

Crime and Punishment p.1 (w/ Dr. Katherine Bowers)

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron are kicking off our Crime and Punishment series in a bloody fashion! They’ll be speaking with Dr. Katherine Bowers - an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and vice-president of the North American Dostoevsky Society- about Crime and Punishment’s relationship to narrative, to contemporary crime reporting, and oh so much more! Dostoevsky is an author that absolutely needs no introduction, so grab a stakan of vodka and start dreaming about horses - it’s Crime time, babey.Quick note: the section between 25:30 - 28:40 is an advertisement. Subscribe to LingoPie here! And you can purchase books on Libro.fm here.Major themes: Poking at a rotten tooth, Razumikhin the Superman, The Drunkards01:21 - “Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity” eds. Katherine Bowers and Kate Holland04:10: “The Rise of Crime and Punishment from the Air of the Media” by Konstantine Klioutchkine05:05 - “Feuilleton”08:33 - 150ish, close enough09:06 - Crime and Punishment: When Raskolnikov leaves the police station, he loses his limp; this is a subtle allusion to the fact that he may be the real Keyser Söze.What is To be Done: After obtaining all seven infinity stones, Rakhmetov uses his newfound power to eliminate all food that isn’t black rye bread and ham.Zuleikha: Zuleikha is almost killed by the invading Nazi Zombies - but at the last moment, Yuzuf and Ignatov return with their newly-acquired AKMs and blow the crowd away. Zuleikha throws away her cigar and drops a one-liner as the movie fades to black.Anna Karenina: They solve their problems with polyamory.53:27 - Skip to 54:10 to avoid references to the ending.54:20 - Here’s a link to check out the tweets!58:00 - You can find Dr. Bowers’s twitter here!58:16 - Here’s a link to Dr. Bowers’s website!58:50 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the GothicThe music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Jan 21, 2022 • 50min

The Polykhaevs by Nilin (w/ Dr. Ian Garner)

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by Dr. Ian Garner to cover “The Polykhaevs” by Pavel Nilin, a work that Dr. Garner had originally translated for his upcoming book, Stalingrad Lives. The Polykhaevs follows the story of an elderly couple who are seeing their grandson for the first time in the better part of a decade after he was evacuated from Stalingrad during World War 2 - although now grown, he is a stranger to them. As they get to know their grandson, memories of the war bubble to the surface…Major themes: Rehabilitating Socialist Realism, Memories of Stalingrad, Brick-layers.02:28 - The Polykhaevs full text on Dr. Ian Garner’s website.42:18 - Sorry, Ian! I would have edited this out…but you could hear our ill-timed laughter in the re-take.46:11 - “From Stalingrad to the Stars: Science Fiction and Memory in Putin’s Russia”The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Jan 7, 2022 • 56min

Father Sergius by Tolstoy

Show Notes:Cameron goes on a tangent about Spain between 4:32 and 9:02 so…feel free to skip that part if you want, it has no bearing on the episode.This week, Matt and Cameron jump back into Russia’s past with an exploration of one of Tolstoy’s later works, Father Sergius. In this piece, Tolstoy explores his own version of hagiography - or the telling of a Saint’s Life - with all his usual flair and strong opinion. He is also uncomfortably horny in his writing. Have fun with that!Major themes: Tolstoy Horny on Main, Saint’s Lives, The History of the Alhambra08:32 - This is true.34:56 - “Hagiographical Motifs in Tolstoy’s “Father Sergius”” by Margaret Ziolkowski37:50 - “The Apophthegmata Patrum and Tolstoy’s Father Sergius” by Harry Walsh and Paul Alessi53:08 - “Yeltsin drunk. In his underwear. Hailing a cab.”54:38 - The Polykhaevs by Pavel NilinThe music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
undefined
Dec 3, 2021 • 26min

Bonus 8 - December Announcements!

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron have a few announcements for you…and then a whole lot of reflecting. Stay tuned for our Father Sergius episode, which will be released when we return on January 7th!Thank you all for listening! And being here for a whole year. Sometimes we can’t believe we’ve made it this far; on the other hand, blowing past our expectations has made it easier to imagine that we’ll be sticking around for a long time.00:57 - Unless you’re a Patreon member, in which case, you’ll still be getting Tolstoy’s Father Sergius today!01:27 - It’ll be February 4th!03:00 - In case you’re wondering, it’ll be the Barnes and Noble Classics Series Crime and Punishment, translated by Constance Garnett and revised by Juliya Salkovskaya and Nicholas Rice.19:09 - *Russian Major, not a Russian Lit major. UC Davis does not offer Russian lit degrees.The music used in this episode was “bella ciao,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.Follow us on Instagram, check out our website, if you’re so inclined, check out our Patreon!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app