The Slavic Literature Pod
By Tipsy Tolstoy
The Slavic Literature Pod Sep 23, 2022
War and Peace p.13 (Book 4, Part 4)
Shownotes:
This week, Matt and Cameron finish War and Peace!! Well, minus the epilogue. Tune in to hear about the meeting of old acquaintances, the passing of old friends, and the quiet night at the end of a war. Book 4, Part 4. It’s the end of a true epic, in the most literary sense of the word. Be there or be square.
Major themes: PTSD = Cool Dude, Super Friendship, Laws of History
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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War and Peace p.12 (Book 4, Part 3)
Shownotes:
This week, Matt and Cameron continue Napoleon’s invasion into Imperial Russia into its final phase: a slow, deadly retreat accompanied by irregular warfare in War & Peace’s Part 3 of Book 4. This is what Cameron studied for a potion of his degree and he is going to make that your problem in this episode. Follow along as we catch up with the youngest Rostov, Petya, as he finally deploys in the theater of war, and also find Pierre turning monastic during a death march. Nothing but good times, so grab your scavenged shoes found along a retreat route and tune in!
Major themes: Guerilla Warfare, Spying = Being Mean, A Prosaic Prisoner
03:07 - I’d apologize for my Yreka slander, but I’m actually not sorry.
04:20 - I was trying to think of inter-state (between state), intra-state (between a state and a non-state actor in the former’s borders), and extra-state (between a state and a non-state actor outside its borders) warfare.
17:42 - Not to say this was a novel introduction of “rules of warfare.” Many places in many times had put similar thought into conducting warfare, but I mean to say this particular period has an outsized place in influencing modern thought.
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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War and Peace p.11 (Book 4, Part 2)
Shownotes:
This week, Matt and Cameron move away from particular characters and start talking about the long arc of history in Book 4, Part 2 of War and Peace. As the French army retreats from Moscow, it’s the perfect time to ask the question: hey, wait, was everyone wrong about calling Stalingrad the Soviet War and Peace? You’ll have to listen to find out. Plus we’ll learn about the function of pain in Tolstoy’s work, which will really lighten the mood. Grab your water for a long march back to Paris, then tune in!
Major themes: The Function of Pain, Pierre’s Thiccness, Dialoguing with Stalingrad
26:45 - “Revisiting the Dialectic of Pain and Truth: War and Peace and The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by David Rosenshield
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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War and Peace p.10 (Book 4, Part 1)
Shownotes:
This week, Matt and Cameron start on Book 4, Part 1 (after diverging from our original plan to combine parts 1 and 2) and do a deep dive on how we can really analyze wisdom, on the horror of war collapsing into peace, and whether self-sacrifice can ever be a true ideal of Christianity. That’s right, it’s the big ideas section! Well - the whole book is the big ideals section, but this is a great survey of some of Tolstoy’s most interesting ideas. Grab your Youtube video of Slavoj Zizek and tune in!
Major themes: Collapsing War and Peace Together, The Nature of Wisom, The Banality of Evil
15:12 - I meant to say “Andrei,” not “Nikolai” here
18:48 - “Cry” not “die”
26:30 - Well, the prisoner per capita ratio is still high in China - just nowhere near as high as the U.S.
30:20 - I learned this in class sometime back, so I’m going to hedge this claim a bit. Here are some comparative numbers on draft dodging, but I’m unclear on how they got to these numbers (analyzing data from the U.S. gov vs. independent analyses) so I won’t say this is a definitive answer. If I can locate a study or similar research that uses a consistent methodology to analyze draft dodging these two periods, I’ll add it here.
51:57 - Some more information about Dostoevsky’s almost-execution
53:24 - Surprisingly, I was right.
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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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War and Peace p.9 (Book 3, Part 3)
Shownotes:
This week, Matt and Cameron fiddle while Moscow burns. They finish Book 3 of War and Peace by finally engaging with the direct interaction of war and society. Unfortunately for the population of Moscow, that comes as their city burns. Why that is? Well - Tolstoy has some opinions. (Unsurprisingly, those opinions begin with the fact that Moscow is mostly built of wood, which may have something to do with the fire). Grab your least flammable cocktail and tune in!
Major themes: Hanging’ With the Enemy, The Force of History, Burning Moscow
06:55 - The Achilles Paradox
30:40 - Vive L’Espanol
31:51 - Historically, I mean.
34:43 - I, personally, stand behind “The Long 20th Century.” But that’s only because the guy who wrote it was a professor of mine, and once spent an entire class lecturing on how a certain shade of green showed a) where Portuguese immigrants have gone and b) the implications of finding that green in places like Hawaii (sugar farming and resultant imperialist takeover, in that case).
41:29 - I think it’s actually usually translated as “money changers” instead of “money lenders.”
57:54 - Unfortunately for Matt, I get to edit these episodes and I have all the power.
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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War and Peace p.8 (Book 3, Part 2)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron continue Part 2, Book 3 of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Get your sabers ready, we’re about to head into one of the defining battles of 1812. Well - at least as Tolstoy would have you believe. And - for once - Marya appears in a scene without 2-3 pages of the narrator ragging on her looks. Who would have thought we’d come this far? Get your victory drink of choice ready, and tune in!
Major themes: Beating Peasants, War Crimes, Losing Your Way to Victory
22:35 - My bad, I was thinking of the Church of Christ, Scientist, not Jehovah’s Witnesses. I have two aunts who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, you’d think I’d know that haha.
39:12 - The conditions of Napoleon’s exile.
40:17 -The False Dmitry I
54:48 - I’m pretty sure, but not 100% confident that this is what Matt is talking about.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
War and Peace p.7 (Book 3, Part 1)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron continue their slog through Book 3 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, covering part 1. Get ready for more teen marriage plots, a little elucidation on Tolstoy’s thoughts on doctors, and the funniest section for Pierre so far. And trust us - that last bit jumped over a high bar. Grab your copies of the Book of Revelations and tune in!
Major themes: More Teen Marriage Plots, Too Hot to be Godly, Anti Doctor Content
12:21 - As Eric Blaire, a.k.a. George Orwell, explored in “Shooting an Elephant.” Also a lot to explore about colonialism and perspectives on the racialized Other there, but that’s a different conversation.
40:32 - Here’s an Atlantic article about it. Happened around 20-ish years earlier.
46:52 - The exact quote is: “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.”
51:27 - Here’s a bit more information about that event.
52:54 - Revelations 13:18, KJV: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” In War & Peace “the Beast” is understood to be the anti-Christ. I, personally, have my doubts in that interpretation of the text - anti-Christs appear in several places, but the Beast only appears here; furthermore, the beast is never referred to as an “anti-Christ.” If I’m recalling correctly - the notion of the anti-Christ is never referred to in the Book of Revelations at all. I think it’s a concept from The Book of John. But also I’m just a person who read the Bible growing up, I’m not a scholar or anything.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” 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!
War and Peace p.6 (Book 2, Parts 4-5)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron dive into Parts 4 and 5 in Book 2 of War and Peace. If you read Anna Karenina and thought, I like these hunting scenes 500 pages in but I wish they were more brutal and had more undertones about the aristocracy - don’t worry, we’ve got you covered here. And Natasha’s upcoming marriage comes under pressure. Grab your finest elopement garments and strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Major themes: "Uncles," Kissin’ Cousins, Elopement but it’s Kidnapping.
33:26 - When will you learn that your actions…HAVE CONSEQUENCES!
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
War and Peace p.5 (Book 2, Part 3)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron dive into Book 2, part 3 of War and Peace to find the answer to an important question: is life over once you turn 31? And it’s time to turn a little religious and a little conspiratorial with Princess Marya and Count Pierre. Nothing better than covering two years of life in around 100 pages. Grab your finest soiree attire, some champagne, and tune in!
Major themes: Hottie or Nottie, Gnarled Trees, Illuminist Freemasonry
05:51 - Hollywood Access is, of course, legally distinct from Access Hollywood. Please don’t fire me, NBC.
08:10 - He just like me fr
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
War and Peace p.4 (Book 2, Parts 1-2)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron dive into Book 2 of War and Peace and cover parts 1 & 2. In this part, we get the honor (you might say) of getting to compare child marriage plots, duels, and bullying of my! Grab your kvass of choice and get ready to get into War and Peace.
Major themes: Child marriage, duels, battle plans
21:11 - National Treasure, truly the greatest American contribution to the arts.
36:03 - Ritualized Violence Russian Style: The Duel in Russian Culture and Literature by Irina Reyfman
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
War and Peace p.3 (Book 1, Part 3)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron finish up the first section of War and Peace by covering Book 1, Part 3. They’ll be delving more into the Kuragin family and their shared habits (and even some shared facial expressions), and keeping up with the military boys as they meet their idols…and have very different reactions than expected. Grab your reluctant wedding champagne and tune in!
Major themes: The Pettiness of Great Men, Bad Fathers, Vacant Expressions
02:53 - Ohio actually has produced seven presidents. And, yes, I did learn this from a Phil Ochs song. I’m not apologetic. He may not be from Ohio, but he’s its best export.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
War and Peace p.2 (Book 1, Part 2)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron turn to the war part of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in Part II of Book 1. Grab your field rations and greatcoats as we follow Andrei, Nikolai, and company into battle with the French. And although this seems to be the opposite…perhaps the battles parallel the “peace” of Moscow society more than it first appears. You’ll have to tune in to find out.
Interested in the video version of this podcast? Find it here.
Major themes: Strawberry-Flavored Koumiss, Luck, Four Lads and a Cannon
08:18 - *The Great Bear Incident of 1804, it should be.
09:02 - Imperial Russian Hussars
28:13 - Minor point of order - I mixed up Ippolit and Anatole Kuragin. Ippolit is an acquaintance of Bilibin, the Russian Ambassador we met earlier; while Anatole is the Kuragin involved in the bear incident.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
War and Peace p.1 (Book 1, Part 1)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron kick off their longest series ever: Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. This episode they’ll be reading Part 1 of Book 1 (don’t worry there are only four books and two epilogues) and get into the nitty gritty of peace. But at risk of engaging with too many clichés, the maneuvers of peace (and mostly the soiree) can be just as complex as war. Grab your koumiss and tune in!
Interested in the video version of this podcast? Find it here.
Major themes: Big Heineken, Dangerous Neighborhoods, Felines
00:56 - *Cue Curb Your Enthusiasm theme music*
04:19 - Although Spotify does offer video podcasting, we unfortunately aren’t able to offer it on that platform! You can check out our Youtube channel if you would like to see the video versions of our podcasts.
10:47 - Big L on my part. Elder Bolkonsky is Nikolai Bolkonsky, while the younger is Andrei Bolkonsky. That being said, Andrei’s son will be named Nikolai in a later part so the joke stands if you shift it a generation.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Chekov Becomes Chekhov (w/ Author Bob Blaisdell)
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron sit down with author Bob Blaisdell to talk about his new book Chekov Becomes Chekov: The Emergence of a Literary Genius. Bob was a wonderful person to chat with and learn from - and we hope you all take as much away from the conversation as we did.
Bob Blaisdell is Professor of English at the City University of New York’s Kingsborough Community College and also the author of Creating Anna Karenina. He is a reviewer for the the Los Angeles Review of Books, Russian Life magazine, and Tolstoy Studies Journal, and the editor of more than three dozen Dover literature and poetry collections, including a collection of Chekhov's love stories, and the forthcoming Conversations with Karl Ove Knausgaard (University Press of Mississippi).
Major themes: Deadlines, Fake Marriages, and Watermelons
12:01 - “Amateurs wait for inspiration. Professionals just get up and go to work.” from Stephen King’s On Writing
12:10 - Referring to On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Bonus 10 - 2 Years of Tipsy Tolstoy and BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
Shownotes:
This week, Matt and Cameron discuss the imminent future of the podcast and spend some time reflecting on two years of Tipsy Tolstoy.
03:41 - Our Linktree. Find the link to our Discord there.
05:51 - Third Space Theory
20:53 - Find our TikTok here, now with content!
21:35 - I’ve been informed by some TikTok users that this is simply called an “audio.” Fascinating.
The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” 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!
Robert Chandler Talks Stalingrad and Translation
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron sit down with Robert Chandler, a prolific translator of many authors including our own beloved Grossman. Robert Chandler’s translations from Russian, mostly for NYRB Classics and Vintage Classics, include works by Alexander Pushkin and Nikolay Leskov; collections of stories and memoirs by Teffi; and novels and stories by Vasily Grossman, Andrey Platonov and Hamid Ismailov. He is the main translator of three anthologies of Russian literature for Penguin Classics: of short stories, magic tales and poetry. His most recent publications are Pushkin’s Peter the Great’s African and Vasily Grossman’s The People Immortal, both co-translated with his wife Elizabeth. His next publication will be Platonov’s long novel Chevengur.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
The Shot by Pushkin
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron bring you a shorter one (finally)! They’ll be covering - at long, long last - “The Shot” by Aleksandr Pushkin. Tune in to hear stories of officer intrigue, duels fought and left unfought, and the existential terror of being cornered at a party by the a dude whose main hobby is shooting handguns into his own wall. Switch out the beer for a kvass or water for this one because - say it with me - alcohol and firearms don’t mix. Enjoy!
Major themes: Psychological Duels, Byronic Subversions, and Cherry Pits
02:03 - Oculus Founder Says He’s Working on an Exploding VR Headset that Actually Kills Players if They Lose
06:00 - While the whole Russian Cyrillic alphabet has 33 letters, only 32 of them are technically letters.
08:00 - Faro
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
The Sistine Madonna by Grossman
Show Notes:
Matt and Cameron have finished reading Stalingrad, but they aren’t yet done with Grossman. This week, they tackle his short story “The Sistine Madonna.” Written before the publication of Stalingrad and after he began to write Life and Fate, “The Sistine Madonna” is a piece about beauty, desperation, and hope for the future. Oh, and thermonuclear war. It covers a lot of ground. Grab your Bibles to track the religious analogies and tune in!
Major themes: Non-religious Christianity, Aesthetic anti-Sovietism, Eternal Beauty
03:49 - Okay, I was close, but the beer is actually called “St. Pauli”
06:03 - Nicaragua, I mean
8:09 - Check out The Sistine Madonna here
08:56 - “The Sistine Madonna” by Vasily Grossman
10:19 - I have once again switched Stalin and JFK’s death date, as I am want to do. Stalin died in 1953.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.10 by Grossman
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron finish up Vasily Grossman’s Stalingrad as we close the story of Rodimtsev’s embattled Guards Regiment in the city of Stalingrad and close out (for now!) the stories of the people we’ve been following for months now. We’ll be talking about Feminist perspectives on the work, de-mythologization of warfare, and spending some time drinking our feelings out about our favorite character, Pyotr Vavilov. Grab your copy of Stalingrad, your preferred celebratory drink, and tune in!
Major themes: Motherhood, the soldier as adolescent, the spirit of the worker at war
04:30 - Sorry about the bells, those are my housemate’s kittens.
05:50 - The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
05:52 - Love of Worker Bees by Alexandra Kollontai
07:20 - Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
47:49 - Slight correction, the Wehrmacht was not the organization that implemented the Final Solution proper, although their units were involved in the “shoah by bullet.”
50:49 - Nestor Makhno
51:39 - “Ukraine without Jews” by Vasily Grossman
01:02:14 - It’s the Old Testament prophet Elijah that is taken to heaven in a whirlwind.
01:15:36 - “The Myth of Stalingrad in Soviet Literature, 1942 - 1963” by Ian Garner
01:15:36 - “Stalingrad in Popular Memory - The Battle Remembered” - WW2TV w/ Ian Garner
01:15:39 - Stalingrad Lives! by Ian Garner
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.9 by Grossman
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron close in on the end of Vasily Grossman’s Stalingrad and talk about the actual battle in the city. We jump around from the Soviet reinforcements crossing the Volga to Wehrmacht soldiers celebrating their victory a little too early. As always, the story of war is really the story of the humans there and Grossman will never let us forget that. Find some looted booze and tune in!
Major themes: Byzantium Marxism and Postmodernism Oh My!, Political alienation, The Gros-Cast
05:38 - The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin by Adam Hochschild
06:39 - Tipsy Tolstoy takes on Varlam Shalamov’s Kolyma Tales
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.8 by Grossman
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron continue on to the Third and Final part of Vasily Grossman’s Stalingrad! After 800 pages, we finally approach…the Battle of Stalingrad. Well, the best things come to those who wait. Grab your wartime moonshine of preference, get a move on toward the city, and don’t forget to tune in!
Major themes: Labyrinth of plots but make it depressing, Defamiliarization in art, The Origin of Tomatoes
00:51 - Check out Puppet Combo’s Night Shit! Since it’s now October (if, indeed, you’re reading this in October), I’m ready to start shilling for indie developers I love. If you really want to get scared, check out more of Puppet Combo or my personal favorite dev, Kitty Horror Show.
01:35 - Check out this article about the event
06:06 - Ooh! The name of the book is “Rising Up and Rising Down,” but I was close.
08:31 - We’re all gonna go ahead and ignore the mic change here.
01:00:56 - Luckily for Matt, we still can’t afford to have all our episodes edited so this one was only heard in-house.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.7 by Grossman
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.6 by Grossman
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.
Stalingrad p.5 by Grossman
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
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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.4 by Grossman
Show Notes:
This week, Cameron apologizes about the lateness of the episode! Some things came up so he ran a little behind on the edit. He’s gonna duck out to take care of some things for work, but will have a fully updated shownotes ready as soon as possible.
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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.3 by Grossman
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.2 by Grossman
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Stalingrad p.1 by Vasily Grossman
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Envy by Olesha (w/ Dr. José Vergara)
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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Bonus 9 - State of the Podcast
Shownotes:
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.
Follow us on Instagram, check out our website, if you’re so inclined, check out our Patreon!
The Orchard (w/ Author Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry)
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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Eugene Onegin p.3 by Pushkin (w/ Dr. Katherine Bowers)
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Eugene Onegin p.2 by Pushkin
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Eugene Onegin p.1 by Pushkin
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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 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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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 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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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 ago
07:26 - “Bill, Bill. I got your note…I ask you just one thing, Just give Europe to Russia.”
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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-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.
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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 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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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”
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
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 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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Bonus 8 - December Announcements!
Shownotes:
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!
Cement p.2 by Gladkov
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Cement p.1 by Gladkov
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Morphine by Bulgakov
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!
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
The Captain's Daughter by Pushkin
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
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The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
Heart of a Dog by Bulgakov
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
Buy this book with our affiliate links on Bookshop or Amazon!
Our links: All links | PATREON | Merch | Watch on YouTube | Discord
Socials: TikTok | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.
The Funeral Party by Ulitskaya
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.
Buy this book with our affiliate links on Bookshop or Amazon!
Our links: All links | PATREON | Merch | Watch on YouTube | Discord
Socials: TikTok | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.