Show Notes:

This week, in For Your Consideration, Cameron dives into Belarusian writer Alhierd Bacharevič’s Alindarka’s Children and Laguna-Pueblo-American writer Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. Both novels explore people native to a land that is now, in different ways, hostile to them. 

Alindarka’s Children follows Avi and Sia’s fairy tale-like journey escaping a camp where they’re fed “vitamins” and taught to speak the correct Lingo, rejecting their own language. Their trip is beset by an unstable father, who insistantly passed their native Leid, a forest witch, a “corrected” hunter and other dangers. Written in both English and Scots to capture the Russian and Belarusian of the original, the novel challenges the reader’s understanding of linguistic and cultural preservation. 

Ceremony is downstream of Marmon Silko’s brief attempt to write a humorous story about the native WW2 veterans of her childhood, who often drank heavily to deal with their trauma. As the wrote, though, she found that it really wasn’t very funny at all. Her exploration of Tayo’s PTSD, and the struggle to find a way forward, is a profoundly empathetic approach to everyone involved. 

Alhierd Bacharevič: “Belarus is the place where literary subjects are just lying under our feet.”

Special Problems in Teaching Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony” by Paula Gunn Allen

I have lost everything: The impact of homeless sweeps - Propublica

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

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Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at slaviclitpod@gmail.com.

Show Notes:

This week, Cameron dives into William T. Vollmann’s Europe Central and Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. The uniting theme this week: reflection and memory. Both novels cast a long shadow over his life, so it’s time to untangle exactly why that is. 

Can Europe Central be cleanly read as a series of parables? Is it appropriate to turn Hitler into a sort-of fairy tale? Is it a red flag that Cameron has read Norwegian Wood six times? Tune in to find your answers. 

“Shostakovich in Love: William T. Vollmann’s Europe Central” by Peter G. Christiansen

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 

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Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at slaviclitpod@gmail.com.

Buy a copy of I Burned at the Feast here.

Show Notes:

This week, Cameron dives into the collection I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky. You have almost certainly heard of virtuosic filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, but his father might be less familiar to you. Yet, you may still have heard his work — Tarkovsky the younger includes recordings of Arseny reading his own poetry in Mirror and Stalker. 

To get into the nitty-gritty of Arseny Tarkovsky’s ranging poetry about life, death, WWII, family, and his contemporaries, Cameron’s joined by Philip J. Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev, who collected and translated the poems within. 

Philip J. Metres is a poet, scholar, translator, essayist, and peacebuilder. He is the author of twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge, Shrapnel Maps, The Sound of Listening, and Sand Opera. His work has garnered fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Watson Foundation. He has been awarded the Adrienne Rich Award, three Arab American Book Awards, the Cleveland Arts Prize, and the Hunt Prize. Philip has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.” He is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He is also Core Faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts.  

Dmitri Psurtsev is a Russian poet and translator of British and American prose-writers and poets. He has written five books of poetry — Ex Roma Tertia, Tengiz Notebook, Between, Tired Happiness, and Murka and Other Poems — and translated numerous books from English. Dimitri teaches translation at Moscow State Linguistic University.

Major themes: Sort-of immortality, Evolving conceptions of death, Competitive poets

01:31:53 - Check out Dimitri’s most recent work here (poetry in Russian) 

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 

Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944

Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron finish out Part 7 of Stalingrad, learning more about the emotional aftermath of the Shaposhnikov family and friends’ losses - and, naturally, are introduced to an entirely new character. It’s time to learn about coal mining, babey. Grab your helmet-mounted flashlight, a boring tool, and get ready to get deep into some soot.

Major themes: Tank Corps time babey, Legendary pettiness, Grossman’s Cement,

06:24 *sister for being bad at art

10:45 - Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron finally arrive to the subject of the book Stalingrad - which is, of course, the actual battle of Stalingrad. It only took us a breezy 500 pages to get here. Oh! But I forgot - we have about 50 more pages of the war from the German perspective first. Grossman doesn’t let you have anything easily. Get your drink, find shelter from the bombs, and tune in!

Major themes: Sponsored by water, Perspectives on Nazi-era Germany,

08:57 - Some examples from our much maligned friend (by which I mean, website we malign a lot), Reddit. 

20:26 - For any German-speakers out there, I apologize for my pronunciation.

38:29 - If you have the time, you should give Hunter S. Thompson’s eulogy for Richard Nixon a read.

39:47 - The work is called “Discourse on Colonialism” by Aime Cesaire, linked here. Although I have my quibbles with some particulars, on the whole I think the work is an important read for those who study history.

40:35 - Adam Hochschild as a whole is worth reading, but one of his most notable works is King Leopold’s Ghost. This book covers the events I mention. By the way - the number of dead Congolese people I gave is extremely low. Hochchild’s book estimates the number to be around 10 million dead. Grossman’s point about Hitler should perhaps be extended to the colonialist powers that have trod tens of millions of people in the Global South underfoot.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron get a little over halfway into Grossman’s Stalingrad, covering more themes from the homefront - spending more time with Pavel Andreyev the factory worker and Marusya Shaposhnikova, organizational investigator. Learn a little more about the place of art in the USSR and how every unhappy family is unlike in their own way in Part 5 of our series on Stalingrad. Grab your thoughts on the two truths, sit down, and tune in!

Major themes: Cement 2: Grossman Boogaloo, Soviet HR, Zhenya’s Untrue Art

See our book list here!

01:09 - I forgot the funniest part of this story which was when we turned on the local radio station and the announcer said, “We have a great diversity of music on this station, just like the great diversity of….Grateful Dead fans out here,” before launching into a Grateful Dead song. Truly iconic.

01:28 - The town name is actually Whiskeytown, my mistake.

01:30 - Also Coffee Creek.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron dive back into the family life of the Shaposhnikovs, so we’ll call this episode “Mothers and Daughters.” Also…well, Viktor meets someone on the side in Moscow. We’ll see how that goes. Grab your drink of choice when family dinner is getting contentious and tune in!

Major themes: Cowboy movies and Soviet Literature, x, r/menwritingwomen

14:40 - It is in fact the largest tank battle of all time! All in all, there were 8,000 tanks involved, not counting troops, aircraft, other mechanized units, and artillery.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron continue on with the set-up to the siege of Stalingrad, following more of Viktor Shtrum as well as Commissar Nikolai Krymov in their respective adventures in Moscow and on the Eastern Front. We’ll be getting into the nitty-gritty on the idea of Grossman as a “soviet Tolstoy” so grab your finest wartime moonshine and tune in to hear our incendiary hot takes!

Major themes: Soviet Tolstoy(?), Genuflecting Grossmans, What Makes the Soviet Union? 

Take a look at our World War 2 book list here! Have some ideas for other books to go on the list? Email them to tipsytolstoy@gmail.com.

31:32 - Vasily Grossman: A Writer at War, ed.s Antony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova

31:43 - The Road, ed. Robert Chandler

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 science

Like 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 Popoff

42:52 - 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 Cocaine

58:44 - “Brutal Games: Call of Duty and Cultural Narratives of World War 2” by Debra Ramsay

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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, Polyphony

Quick 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 - Guernica

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 ambivalence

06:19 - 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!

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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 | ⁠Facebook

Show Notes:

Kristina's Website, The Orchard

This 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 art

34:35 - To avoid spoilers, go to 35:47

51:14 - 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 

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Show Notes:

This week, Cameron will dive into the novel Cecil the Lion Had to Die by Ukrainian historian, journalist, and novelist Olena Stiazhkina — a novel diving into the intricacies of family life and identity formation through the late Soviet Union, the chaotic years following, and into the early years of the war. 

He’s joined by Dominique Hoffman, who translated the novel, and has a great wealth of knowledge to share about the book, its characters, Olena herself and the context of its writing. 

Hoffman is a translator of Ukrainian fiction and non-fiction. Her work includes short stories, long form journalism, a full history of Ukraine in global context and novels. Her most recent publication is titled The Wild West of Eastern Europe: a Ukrainian Guide on Breaking Free from Empire by Pavlo Kazarin, winner of Ukraine's non-fiction book of the year. She has a particular interest in the intersections of literature and history.

Major themes: Material culture, clashing languages, forming oneself

Pick up a copy of the book yourself here!

07:16 - Writing in a Time of War: A Conversation with Ukrainian Historian and Novelist Olena Stizhkina

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 

Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944

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' Book

More information about Dr. Bowers can be found on her website.

02:45 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the Gothic by Dr. Katherine Bowers

04:19 - William Morris

13:32 - 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 Bowers

42:32 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the Gothic by Dr. Katherine Bowers

49:21 - “Pushkin’s Tatiana” by Caryl Emerson

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 ago

40:17 - Vasily Zhukovsky

44:47 - Writing Fear: Russian Realism and the Gothic by Dr. Katherine Bowers

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!

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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 down

11:48 - “Russian God” by Piotr Vyazemsky

14:53 - Strasbourg Pie

19:49 “Wholesale Failure/Day Gaunt” by Days N Daze

35:46 - “Dressing Gown Farewell” by Piotr Vyazemsky

53:29 - “Loins” lmao

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 

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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 Napoeleon

01:14 - Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity eds. Katherine Bowers and Kate Holland

02:50 - Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: A Reader’s Guide by Deborah Martinsen

03:33 - Approaches to Teaching Crime and Punishment by Michael Katz and Alexander Burry

04:27 - “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 mean

20:24 - Mikhail Bakhtin

23:24 - “In Defense of the Epilogue of “Crime and Punishment ” “ by David Matual

24:02 - “The Improbable Poetics of Crime and Punishment by Greta Matzner-Gore can be found in Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity

39:17 - Bildungsroman

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 

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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 

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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 Fiancé

10:12 - Send it to tipsytolstoy@gmail.com

43:36: 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 Blake

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!

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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 ago

07:26 - “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 | ⁠Facebook

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-Gore

42:43 - 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.

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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 Drunkards

01:21 - “Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity” eds. Katherine Bowers and Kate Holland

04:10: “The Rise of Crime and Punishment from the Air of the Media” by Konstantine Klioutchkine

05:05 - “Feuilleton”

08:33 - 150ish, close enough

09:06 - 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 Gothic

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Cameron pops in at the end of the month to talk about episodes you can expect in the coming months.

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 

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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 Alhambra

08:32 - This is true.

34:56 - “Hagiographical Motifs in Tolstoy’s “Father Sergius”” by Margaret Ziolkowski

37:50 - “The Apophthegmata Patrum and Tolstoy’s Father Sergius” by Harry Walsh and Paul Alessi

53:08 - “Yeltsin drunk. In his underwear. Hailing a cab.”

54:38 - The Polykhaevs by Pavel Nilin

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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!

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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 Kollontai

08:08 - 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 Vavra

49:22 - Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder by Lenin

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 roles

12:47 - “Gladkov’s Cement: The Making of a Soviet Classic” by Robert Busch

16:01 - 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 hour

44:57 - “The Hardening of Cement: Russian Women and Modernization” by Pavla Vesela

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 Forms

36:35 - 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!

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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 alone

03:45 - 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 Groce

38:01 - Plotting History: The Russian Historical Novel in the Imperial Age by Dan Ungurianu

38: 47 - “Between Nation and Empire: Aleksandr Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter” by Irina Anisimova

46:38 - Close, but no cigar. It’s The History of Pugachev

53: 45 - “Grinev the Trickster: Reading the Paradoxes of Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter” by Polina Rikoun

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 Laursen

31:01 - It’s The Russians by Hedgewick Smith

36:10 - “Reflections of Soviet Reality in “Heart of a Dog” As Bulgakov’s Way of Discussion with the Proletarian Writers” by Irina Shilova

42:03 - “Bulgakov's Early Tragedy of the Scientist-Creator: An Interpretation of The Heart of a Dog” by Diana Burgin

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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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 Gessen

12:45 - 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!

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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 | ⁠Facebook

Pick up a copy of The Talnikov Family from Columbia University Press!

Show Notes:

This week, Cameron gets into Avdotya Panaeva’s The Talnikov Family with its translator Fiona Bell. The novel, set in 1820s St. Petersburg, follows Natasha Talnikova’s life in an abusive household, setting readers into some of the lesser-read side of Imperial Russian life. 

Bell is a writer and scholar from St. Petersburg, Florida. She has published English-language translations of the Russian filmmaker Nataliya Meshchaninova, the Belarusian writer Tatsiana Zamirovskaya, and other Russophone authors. She is completing a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University, where studies the Russian racial imaginary as it was elaborated in the nineteenth-century literary canon, in works by writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

Major themes: Defamiliarization, Russian racial imaginary, Purported universality

18:11 - Check out our episode on Nikolai Cherneshevsky’s What Is To Be Done? 

30:04 - Some books on family abolition – Family Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care by M. E. O’Brien; Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation by Sophie Lewis

33:35 - As I’m editing this, I think it’s worthwhile to point to contemporary examples: the term “parent’s rights,” which so often really means “a parent’s unabridged sovereignty over a child,” has been deployed extensively throughout the U.S. (as well as other places) to justify cutting off a minor’s ability to choose what books they can read (if they’re legally allowed to go into a library at all), what music they can listen to, what friends they can or cannot have.

This is a complicated subject because adults have more experience — frankly, because they probably got to make those mistakes themselves — which they can and do use to guide children well. 

Yet this belief is also deployed in service of forcing children into a mold. Going back to the wave of restrictions on what books minors are allowed to read, you see parental (or non-parent activist) opposition to topics relating to sexuality, race, class, etc. because, well, they perceive it as an outside influence which will “turn” their child into something else. This perspective makes children into little more than objects to be shaped, not humans to be respectfully guided as they grow into the person they become. 

01:07:21 - The First Russian by Jennifer Wilson; 

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 

Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944

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 

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron cover Part 8 of Anna Karenina, the FINAL section of this incredibly dense novel. Although you may expect this story to end with Anna’s death—a belief we would understand given both every movie adaption and the fact that this novel is named after her—life goes on for the other characters. So join us as we cover the final journey of the most important character of part ll: Levin’s brother, Sergei. Oh, and I guess we find out what happens to the other characters, too.

Major themes: Sergei?, Finales, More Farming

03:10 - If I was more cultured, I would have recognized the label as the painting “Busy Time For the Mowers,” by Grigoriy Myasoyedov.

04:03 - I actually did not have a chance to break this one out for this episode, but keep an eye out for it in future episodes!

06:34 - The Serbo-Turkish Wars

12:26 - Depending upon how you look at it - and by “at it,” I mean any definition of materialist philosophy - none of the philosophers that Levin mentions are materialists. I studied political philosophy, sue me.

29:50 - You can tell I’ve read a lot of Camus in my time.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron reach the penultimate Part 7 of Anna Karenina full of exciting things like Levin awkwardly visiting people he doesn’t know at Kitty’s behest, Levin getting into gambling, and Levin not liking this new-fangled Wagnerian art. Am I missing something? Hm. It can’t be all that important…can it?

Apologies for Cameron’s audio in this episode—he was recording away from his usual set-up so the quality is a little lower than usual. The appropriate punishment shall be meted out with extreme prejudice.

Major themes: Red Flags, City Livin’, Hangin’ With Your Buds (and also father-in-law) at the Club.

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!

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron travel from light love affair to life after marriage (and pseudo-divorce) with Levin and Kitty’s life, paralleled with Anna and Vronsky’s. Of course—we are reading Tolstoy after all—this is not merely their story, but also that of Sergei and Varenka and Vasenka and so many other interesting characters that we run into in this part. Grab your gun, get up early for snipe hunting, and don’t forget to bring along this podcast to keep you entertained! 

Major themes: Snipe hunting, The Labyrinth of Plots, Ambiguous Morality. 

15:00 - “It really is. Why is it we spend our time riding, drinking, shooting, doing nothing, while they are forever at work?” said Vasenka Veslovsly, obviously for the first time in his life reflecting on the question and consequently considering it with perfect sincerity. (P.667, trans. Garnett; Kent & Berberova) 

24:15 - “Won’t” be Vronsky’s. Is what I meant to say. 

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron get their teeth into the incredibly action-packed Part 5 of Anna Karenina! Seriously. Even if we weren’t comparing this to two straight parts full of farming and legal procedure, it would still stand out. Throw away your farming equipment, grab your finest wedding attire, and get ready for marriages and domestic unrest and familial drama, oh my!

Major themes: Death, Honeymoonin’, Born Again Christianity.

08:57 - 1967, is the year the Soviet version was released.

43:03 - For quick reference, Anna Karenina was published in 1878; What Is To Be Done? was published in 1887; and the Kreutzer Sonata was published in 1889.

50:23 - Now, belatedly, you get the joke from the Format Change episode.

51:14 - Whomp whomp.

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!

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Show Notes:

(Apologies about the confusing intro, this was originally slated to release alongside our Friday episode where we also announce the format change.)

In order to better accommodate our increasingly busy lives combined with the amount of work we try to put into each podcast episode (reading, researching, recording, editing, promoting, etc.) Tipsy Tolstoy will be switching over to a biweekly release schedule. Further details are in this bonus episode.

We plan to use this time to better engage with our listeners and create more meaningful Patreon content, so don't worry--although we do need to take time back for our own lives, we also want to use some of the time to better appreciate all of you who interact with and support us. 

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 | ⁠Facebook

Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron examine One Soldier’s War by Arkady Babchenko, the biography of a Russian soldier who served in the first and second Russo-Chechen Wars. This is, in all honesty, a pretty tough read; but there is an unfortunately dearth of English-language focus on Russia’s first military conflicts as a post-Soviet state. Don’t worry if you’re not all that familiar with Chechen history—we’ll be covering all of that in an extremely long context section!

We tried to keep the discussion from getting too dark, but it’s hard to get away from the basic nature of the work. Just something to keep in mind as you decide whether or not you want to listen to this episode right this moment.

Major themes: Major Bummers, the Republic of Chechnya, The Recursive Nature of Geo-Political Conflict

06:43 - Oops, I should have refreshed my memory before starting this episode. The basic breakdown of federal subdivisions in Russia is

-Republics

-Oblasts

-Krais (Functionally indistinct from Oblasts)

-Autonomous Okrugs (This and the above are what I forgot)

-Autonomous Oblasts (This is the Jewish Autonomous Oblast I mention)

Also there are the federal cities of Moscow and Petersburg, which are administered differently than other cities. (Also also there’s technically Sevastopol but that’s a hot can of worms that I’m not going to touch here).

12:24 - Bordering constituent republic of Russia, I meant to say.

21:50 - A few articles on this phenomenon.

38:33 - I should have said “Soviet military history” here. That would be a little more accurate to my knowledge base, as I admittedly am not as familiar with the Imperial era.

42:53 - Return from war, I meant to say.

47:05 - He may actually be living in Israel at the moment. It’s not super clear.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron keep it rolling with part 4 of Anna Karenina. This section might be alternately titled: Oh, you were tired of farming were you? Let me show you something much less interesting and good for humanity. That is the long way of saying that this section is mostly about Karenin’s committees. Saying that, however, sells this part a little short because it also contains one of the most important scenes in the book. I guess it really is all about light and shadow.

Major themes: Committees, Stupid Sexy Chalk Drawings, Sudden Climax.;

05:28 - We decided not to include the original section here, which was just Matt and I debating where Anna and Alexei’s stance on wearing masks would be.

15:41 - It could be “Do you love me,” or a simple “Marry me?” I would guess the former. The latter is informal even for now, let alone Imperial Russia.

The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp.

Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠!

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 

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Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron (finally) respond to the request of a Patron and tackle Matryona’s House by Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn. In this loosely autobiographical story, we follow our unnamed narrator’s time living with the eponymous Matryona in the very interesting town of Peat-Produce as he better understands the dynamic of living in this small town. Ah, and also there are cockroaches. Many, many cockroaches. Have fun!~

Major themes: Cockroaches, Allegories for the USSR, Torfoprodukt.

07:16 - If you’re interested. 

23: 3x - The pictures of the real Matryona’s House. It’s a pretty sick house, to be honest.

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 | ⁠Facebook

Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron keep the summer of Anna Karenina rolling with part 3 of Tolstoy’s legendary novel. After a little over 250 pages of simmering desire and clashing wills, we slow it down with a lengthy inspection of Levin’s life on the farm—a topic which may at first seem to be an overlong digression from the main plot, but may just set up some of the most important themes of the book. Or maybe we’re finding justifications for having to read many, many chapters about mowing grass. Who knows?

Major themes: M O W I N G, Levin as author avatar, Poor Dolly.

20:18 - I think this is slightly mistating what the farmer says in the book--what I meant by “you have to do it” is that he’s suggesting each person working on the farm has to have a personal stake in the outcome, not just referring to the landowner himself.

20:33 - All the “right” views as defined by 19th century liberal.

24:28 - Admittedly, this is a deep cut if you don’t already study political theory: Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

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 

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Show Notes:

Our Christmas gift to you is a non-clickbait title. Unusual for December, huh?

TL;DR:

Matt is going to be stepping back from the podcast for the time being.

Cameron will be continuing to produce episodes going forward, shifting the focus toward interviewing translators and authors about their work.

Will the boys ride again? It's an open question. Listen to the podcast for the full story.

Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron pull out their soap boxes and get maudlin drunk as they cover The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich. The Unwomanly Face of War is an oral history of the disparate experiences of Soviet women in World War Two, told in fragmented tales revolving around various themes. Get out your Soviet Union-centered history textbooks, find the appropriate wartime alcohol substitute, and tune in to this...sad, but extremely informative episode.

Major themes: Sad Sake Shots, Oversized Boots, Soapboxes.

07:48 - This statistic is pulled from Ishaan Tharoor’s Washington post article “Don’t forget how the Soviet Union saved the world from Hitler.”

09:23 - This is pulled from Eisenhower’s book Crusade in Europe. The quote is included in this PDF copy of an Eisenhower Institute article, “The Soviet Experience in World War Two.

24:11 - The infamous Order No. 227.

33:58 - Actually, I mixed up the sisters’ story with that of another woman. Actually, I’ll read it later in the episode.

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 | ⁠Facebook

Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron continue the Summer of Anna Karenina with Part 2 of Leo Tolstoy’s canon-defining work Anna Karenina. Come join us as Anna reveals her affair to her husband, Kitty finds (and then quickly loses) religion, and Levin...thinks about farming. He also chastises his peasants for farming not the way he wants them to. Scintillating stuff. Also, Sativa’s still on the bread thing like half a year later. There are a lot of fun details to go over, so tune in!

Major themes: Anna = Frou-Frou?, Tolstoy not being terribly self-aware, FARMING.

04:46 - This is a common Slavic folk medicine method, rubbing spirits on someone’s chest. I have it on good authority from a Ukranian friend of mine that it actually seems to help with congestion.

07:07 - Take a shot every time I say ‘Betty’ instead of Betsy.

07:54 - Don’t you dare clip that out of context.

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 | ⁠Facebook

Show Notes:

This week, Matt and Cameron attempt to unravel Andrei Sinyavsky’s short story Pkhentz, which stars a man in the late USSR who is fundamentally uncomfortable with everything from the concept of food to the idea of sexual attraction. Come to figure out if this is a political allegory, stay for Andrei Kazimirovich’s evaluation of sausage-making.

Major themes: Cacti, Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink, Overuse of the Word ‘Alienation’

22:50 - Count how many times I can say ‘alienation’ in this episode.

25:39 - Here’s a fun little article about Wittgenstein and language. I don’t have too much to say, I just think Wittgenstein is neat.

26:28 - It almost evokes Khlebnikov’s Invocation of Laughter.

33:15 - Easier, I mean to say.

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 | ⁠Facebook