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Ilya Matveev reflects on the Russian economic crisis
On April 4, 2016, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia welcomed Ilya Matveev from the European University in St. Petersburg for a lecture titled “Austerity and...
Ilya Budraitskis on what the 1917 revolution means to contemporary Russia
The way we can discuss revolutions is a political choice.
Presnya: a Discussion with Ilya Budraitskis
The Tashkent Film Festival was a major venue for international exchange among the filmmakers, critics, as well as the politically engaged artists worldwide, and a unique screening space for World Cinema in the 1960s-1970s.
New Languages of Hostility and Resistance: Politicizing Russophone Poetry, Part I
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the amount of Russian-language poetry online has skyrocketed. Some poems express support for the war. Others resist not only Russian aggression itself, but also the Kremlin propaganda worldview, which defines the “good” as whatever benefits the regime.
New Languages of Hostility and Resistance: Politicizing Russophone Poetry, Part II
Poetry written in Russian today, even if it makes no mention of the war, finds itself within the magnetic field of horrifying historical events.
With Shame and Hope
We must remain firm in this unanimous demand: an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.
Diary entry. Purim, March 17, 2022.
What is happening today is not the same fascism we have witnessed before. This is a new form of false consciousness, and it is important that we analyze it.
3 Questions: Russian intellectual history as a practice and project (Historia Nova Interviews)
What kinds of intellectual projects would be most beneficial for our shared fields?
Stiob and the State
The form of irony known as "stiob" was once the domain of nonconformist artists. Today, "stiob" belongs to the state. How did this happen?
War and Pestilence: The Epidemiological Motif in L. N. Tolstoy's Historical Epic
In the motivic structure of "War and Peace," the “mythical” French "grippe" of Anna Petrovna Scherer occupies a unique position. It is a simultaneously socio-linguistic, satirical, historical, moral, and providential...
The Last Will and Testament of Sergei Esenin: Cultural History of a Mystification, Part I
In this article, I’d like to turn away from heated debates over Esenin’s alleged “killers,” or unprofessional falsifiers of literary history, toward an apparently calmer place. I will focus on...
Time Out of Joint (Unstuck in Time)
The manipulation of Russian historical precedent for present-day political gain is rather clear-cut
Mikhail Lermontov Part II: The Flesh Mop
Borrowed culture, without full cognizance of origin, is still pervasive in much of the hipster culture of Russia.
Overkill, Part II: The Bolotnaya Verdict
Transforming insane claims against activists into legal fact, Russian courts are continuing their established role as blunt weapons in the Kremlin assault on society.
Formalism and the Future (Part II)
It is unlikely that the category of “art” will ever fully disappear even as the boundary between “art” and “life” grows increasingly muddled.
Tolstoy the Peasant: A "Myth" Revisited
To what extent was the "myth" of Leo Tolstoy-as-peasant purveyed by Ilya Repin merely that—a myth? Was it, in fact, not a myth at all? Tolstoy was no peasant, for...
Bitter Taste: How Gorky Saved Pushkin’s Honor by Closing His Café, Part I
"The dignity of Russia’s most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin, has been saved, but as a result Moscow’s most pretentious café is now nameless. It all started a few weeks ago...
Bitter Taste: How Gorky Saved Pushkin’s Honor by Closing His Café, Part II
The hysterical reaction by the Soviet establishment to an apparently innocent incident — a reaction that struck at least one Western observer as symptomatic, but still curious — was deeply...
Bitter Taste: How Gorky Saved Pushkin’s Honor by Closing His Café, Part III
Immediately after Gorky's death, rumors began to spread that he had been poisoned by chocolate candies sent to him from the Kremlin. Whether this is true or not, nobody knows....
How Pushkin Became a Cat, Part I
An American magazine article from 1936 plainly states that “the name Pushkin is ideal for a cat.” Why?