The Slavic Literature Pod

Show Notes:If you’d rather not hear references to sexual assault, skip 19:35 - 20:06; mild mention between 45:15 - 45: 20.This week, Matt and Cameron continue building the factory in the second half of Fyodor Gladkov’s Cement. Following the assault upon the factory, dark clouds loom on the Soviet horizon as committees interfere, the effects of the NEP become clearer, and a party purge approaches… Grab your shovel, comrade, and get to work! But don’t forget to put this podcast on while you dig.Major themes: Practicality vs. Idealism, Sometimes Side-Characters are the Real Main Characters, Ambivalence.03:22 - The brewer is - drum roll please…Baltika Breweries. Maybe the Baltika is damaging my memory. 07:32 - Love of the Worker Bees by Alexandra Kollontai08:08 - Okay, there are also a lot of other things that Lenin adds to Marxist thought to differentiate Marxist-Leninism. Notably, I would point to the introduction of the Vanguard and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat as concepts assisting a systematic approach to revolution rather than the much more “spontaneous” collapse of Capitalism that Marxism tends to imply. Please don’t come for me, theory people.If you’re interested in the “modern” forms of Capital (where it is not just a physical thing, but also a theoretical thing), I would definitely recommend that you read Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Lenin. That’s a much better explanation of what I was trying to express here.14:08 - The soft noise you’re hearing in the background is my cat trying to get into my room.28:38 - “A herd”32:54 - Specifically for saying that the Bersteinists and Legal Marxists don’t matter. To be clear, those groups do matter if we’re looking at movements globally, but they don’t matter specifically in the post-Russian Civil War context.46:45 - “The Unmentionable Politics in Gladkov’s Cement” by Edward Vavra49:22 - Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder by LeninThe 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

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron kick off a two-part series on Fyodor Gladkov’s Cement, one of the most famous examples of literary Socialist Realism. (Or...is it?) Stay tuned to hear one man’s brave journey to...make a factory work again amidst famine and devastation. No - wait, that’s not a good sell — stay tuned to hear Matt and Cameron argue that Cement is much more interesting that a simple plot summary makes it seem.Major themes: Committees, Simple-hearted, working-class political commissars, Gender roles12:47 - “Gladkov’s Cement: The Making of a Soviet Classic” by Robert Busch16:01 - Spain in our Hearts by Adam Hochschild. Probably one of my favorite books, written by one of my favorite authors. You should also check out The Mirror at Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost if you’re interested in South African and Congolese history respectively.27:57 - *11th hour44:57 - “The Hardening of Cement: Russian Women and Modernization” by Pavla VeselaThe 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

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron explore the effects of addiction with Bulgakov’s “Morphine,” wherein a doctor begins to treat a minor malady with an ultimately fatal cure. Grab your drink of choice - though laudanum would be thematically appropriate, it is not advised - and tune in to hear us talk about the Russian medical profession in the twenties! I promise - it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds.Major themes: Anna Karenina?, Medical Terminology, Story Forms36:35 - Here’s the article I referenced!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 link on ⁠Amazon⁠!Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ Socials: ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ | ⁠FacebookAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron take up positions as Sergeants of the Guard in Aleksandr Puskin’s historical novella, The Captain’s Daughter. We’ll be talking about the real history of the Pugachev Uprising, the place of violence in Pushkin’s era, and - naturally - about imagined communities. So grab your grapeshot, find your local pretender to the throne, and tune in!Major themes: Is it really fatalist?, My boy Pugachev, Benedict Anderson will never leave us alone03:45 - It’s “Farmer’s Daughter” by Rodney Atkins, if anyone’s wondering.34:07 - “Alexandr Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter: A Poetics of Violence” by Alexander Groce38:01 - Plotting History: The Russian Historical Novel in the Imperial Age by Dan Ungurianu38: 47 - “Between Nation and Empire: Aleksandr Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter” by Irina Anisimova46:38 - Close, but no cigar. It’s The History of Pugachev53: 45 - “Grinev the Trickster: Reading the Paradoxes of Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter” by Polina RikounThe 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

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron take up their surgical tools to dissect Mikhail Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog, in which a dog is turned into a man, a creation is turned into a proletarian, and a doctor is - maybe - turned into a murderer. Written in 1925, the novella reflects Bulgakov’s reactions to the changing world around him in ways general and specific - we’ll tease apart what we find interesting and not about this approach. Take a seat and grab your favorite scalpel, it’s time to re-create Frankenstein’s work!Major themes: The Balalaika is stored in the pituitary gland, Novels as forum, Criminal Testes.02:30 - The sound you hear is me immediately googling “Kentucky’s Best.”23:40 - Link to “Bad Words Are Not Allowed!” Language and Transformation in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog” by Eric Laursen31:01 - It’s The Russians by Hedgewick Smith36:10 - “Reflections of Soviet Reality in “Heart of a Dog” As Bulgakov’s Way of Discussion with the Proletarian Writers” by Irina Shilova42:03 - “Bulgakov's Early Tragedy of the Scientist-Creator: An Interpretation of The Heart of a Dog” by Diana BurginThe 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

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron celebrate life, death, and cultural identity abroad in The Funeral Party by Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The plot of this book is deceptively simple: in a sweltering New York apartment, a group of Russian emigres take care of a quickly dying artist who is the nucleus of their strange little community; in another way, the book is about everything other than that. A ranging, almost ethnographic, and incisively written look into a split section of emigre life, this is a novel you don’t want to skip.Major themes: Alcohol, The August Coup, the Labyrinth of Plots returns.03:52 - Yes, my mind does work on free-associations like this on a regular basis. Some call it a talent, doctors call it ADHD.07:53 - The Weight of Words by Masha Gessen12:45 - Take a shot every time I say “interplay” on this episode.18:46 - Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the English version of “Paradoxes of Space Time Model Transformation: Specificity of Literary Time and Space Presentation in Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s Prose,” so here’s a link to the Russian version. For what it’s worth, it reads as “The Character (or specific character) of the Creation of Artistic Time and Space in Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s Prose,” to my eye.21:37 - 0 for 2 on those pronunciations there, bud.24:39 - I would perhaps go even further and say the implicit and over biases that we categorize as racism are behaviors and attitudes that we see in all societies.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

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron talk about movie night and the novel Laurus! This is a preview of the Bonus Episode that will be coming out on Patreon in a few days (as you can tell...it was one of our drunker ones).Major themes: Rusalka, Audible Sponsorships, and Laurus.The music used in this episode was “bella ciao,” 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

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by Dr. Kaitlin Shirley as they discuss “The Meek One,” sometimes alternately translated as “A Gentle Creature.” In usual Dostoevskian fashion, “The Meek One” explores themes of exploration (or perhaps better called: thoughtful misunderstanding) of one’s self, the place of suffering, and questions of domination. Introspection, suffering, and attempts to control, oh my! It’s Dostoevsky hour, everybody.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: Domination, Child Marriage, Uncritical Introspection.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

The final part of Anna Karenina shifts focus from Anna to Levin’s brother, Sergey, delving into his failed writing aspirations and involvement in the Serbo-Turkish Wars. The hosts explore Levin's existential struggles and spiritual awakening, emphasizing his journey from rationality to a more personal faith. Amidst intense moments with family, they discuss the broader implications of Tolstoy’s themes of farming and normalcy. Listeners enjoy lighthearted debates, revealing character analysis complexities and the ambiguities in Levin's ending.

In this discussion, Levin navigates awkward social outings and grapples with gambling and modern art. His enchanting yet misjudged encounter with Anna reveals complex dynamics of influence. Kitty's emotional turmoil intensifies as Levin’s choices clash with her expectations. Meanwhile, Steva faces financial ruin, showcasing the contrasts between Levin’s hopeful outlook and Anna’s spiraling despair. The hosts dive into themes of moral responsibility and empathy, evaluating Tolstoy’s intentions and the fates of these intertwined lives.