The Slavic Literature Pod

Show Notes:This week, Matt and Cameron continue to dig their trench and get ready for the oncoming siege of Stalingrad in Part 2 of their 10 Part series on Stalingrad. We’ll be learning a little more about Grossman’s life and will follow Grossman’s masterful depiction of the first years of World War 2 on Soviet territory. Get the hidden moonshine out of the cellar, fry up the last of the Doktorskaya kalbasa, and tune in!Major themes: Erasure of civilians in war, Call of Duty, Ideology and scienceLike last time, the list is too long, but follow this link to see the book recommendations. 22:49 - Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff42:52 - My mistake! Stepan Spiridonov is not Seryozha’s father - Seryozha’s father is Alexandra’s son Dmitri, who has so far not appeared in this book.58:03 - The title is actually Novel with Cocaine, not Man with Cocaine58:44 - “Brutal Games: Call of Duty and Cultural Narratives of World War 2” by Debra RamsayThe 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 their biggest podcast series ever with one of the most obscure choices possible for such a venture: Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman. Stalingrad is the first book in a dilogy, followed by the much more famous Life and Fate, which covers the siege of the city of Stalingrad by the German Wehrmacht in World War 2. We’re going to be dealing with a whole cast of characters here and their varied experiences of the war so get a pencil and paper, get ready to start diagramming family trees, and tune in!Major themes: Getting off-topic, Ways of looking at truth, PolyphonyQuick note: this week, I had too many shownotes and the word count exceeded the maximum allowed in the description. To see the full shownotes as well as the recommended reading list, please check out this google document. 03:17 - Not even five minutes in and my first blunder. Professor Rauchway also taught his course on WW2 alongside Professor Ari Kelman.04:58 - I hate to come for Matt, but my brief reading seems to imply that they mean it in the latter sense.11:38 - Mea culpa, I got the year wrong here. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor happened on December 7th, 1941, and the US would be involved in the war militarily from 1942 to 1945.12:49 - Listen to “Politely and Calmly Discussing 1984” here or anywhere else you listen to your podcasts.13:01 - GuernicaThe 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:Follow Dr. Vegara’s twitter here, check out his website, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of his new book, All Future Plunges to the Past: James Joyce in Russian Literature. This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by Dr. José Vergara to talk about - drum roll please - two books: Envy by Yuri Olesha as well as All Future Plunges to the Past: James Joyce in Russian Literature by Dr. Vergara. We had a wonderful chance to go over the plot of a neurotic would-be clerk in Envy, while also getting to look at the work through the lens of Joycean influence. Get your Jameson, get envious of the New Soviet Man, and tune in!Major themes: Cheap but nutritious sausage, Ophelia the destroyer, Soviet ambivalence06:19 - Fool that I am, I got this wrong. It’s a 35-kopek sausage.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:Check out our illustrator Caryoln's Instagram, YouTube, and portfolio!This week, Matt and Cameron talk though some updates for the podcast and reflect on the journey that's taken them here.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:Kristina's Website, The OrchardThis week, Matt and Cameron do something a little unusual - for once, they’re intentionally talking around a work rather than examining it in detail. That’s because - in a Tipsy Tolstoy first - we’re being joined by the author of The Orchard, Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry. We had a wide-ranging conversation that covers her journey as an author, the inspirations and thoughts that led to The Orchard in its current form, as well as what’s next for Gorcheva-Newberry. It was a super fascinating conversation so you don’t want to miss out! Grab your blackest bread and even blacker tea, then be sure to tune in!Major themes: The Time Between Dog and Wolf, Re-writing the past, Toasting to art34:35 - To avoid spoilers, go to 35:4751:14 - The Orchard by Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry.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 wrap up part 3 of Eugene Onegin with the help of the Gothic (in research focus) Dr. Katherine Bowers. Not only will we be wrapping up Parts 7 and 8 of this novel in verse, Dr. Bowers will also be covering Tatyana’s dream from our previous episode. The topics will be wide-ranging and the education, constant. Be sure to tune in and have as much fun as we did recording this.Major themes: Onegin is a simp, All Gothic All the Way Down, Buy Dr. Bowers' BookMore information about Dr. Bowers can be found on her website.02:45 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the Gothic by Dr. Katherine Bowers04:19 - William Morris13:32 - Revealing too much familiarity with the folkways of fanfiction.net, perhaps.27:40 “Unpacking Viazemskii’s Khalat: The Technologies of Dilettantism in Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Literary Culture” by Dr. Katherine Bowers. (Access Post Print version here)36:16 - “Ghost Writers: Radcliffiana and the Russian Gothic Wave” by Dr. Katherine Bowers42:32 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the Gothic by Dr. Katherine Bowers49:21 - “Pushkin’s Tatiana” by Caryl EmersonThe 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 dive into one of the greatest duels in all of Russian literature* in Part 2 of Aleksandr Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. We’ll be examining the particulars of dueling etiquette of the era as well as Pushkin’s relationship to his contemporary poets - it’s always exciting in the 19th Century, babey. Grab your finest winter-time wine and tune in!* According to Matt, anyway.Major themes: Pushkin teaches us PUA, Dueling etiquette, “Russian to the core”06:54 - *200 years ago40:17 - Vasily Zhukovsky44:47 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the Gothic by Dr. Katherine BowersThe 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 mini-series to get the mood up with Chapters 1 through 3 of Eugene Onegin! In it, we’ll be following…well, some of Eugene’s story as the narrator wanders back and forth between explaining our protagonist’s life and the narrator’s own lost loves (both in terms of people and passions). Get ready for your soirees tonight, use all 30 brushes in your cabinet, and grab a drink for this entertaining read!Major themes: Terpsichorean foot, Russian Nobility, It’s Napoleon all the way down11:48 - “Russian God” by Piotr Vyazemsky14:53 - Strasbourg Pie19:49 “Wholesale Failure/Day Gaunt” by Days N Daze35:46 - “Dressing Gown Farewell” by Piotr Vyazemsky53:29 - “Loins” lmaoThe 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 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

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