I Burned at the Feast by Arseny Tarkovsky (w/ translators Philip J. Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev)
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
a month ago
Cecil the Lion Had to Die by Olena Stiazhkina (w/ translator Dominique Hoffman)
Cameron is joined by Dominique Hoffman to discuss Olena Stiazhkina's Cecil the Lion Had to Die. They'll get into her work translating the novel, the material culture of the post-Soviet world, and Ukrainian identify formation.
a month ago
The Talnikov Family by Avdotya Panaeva (w/ translator Fiona Bell)
Cameron sits down with Fiona Bell to talk about her translation of Avdotya Panaeva's The Talnikov Family, covering its deployment of defamiliarization, the Russian racial imaginary, and purported universality.
3 months ago
A Hiatus, Kind of
A quick note about a change in the podcast starting in 2025.
3 months ago
Office Hours - Is Tolstoy still relevant?
Major themes: Raskolnikov the rap god, The future of art, Tricking PBS
4 months ago
The UnSimple by Taras Prokhasko
Major themes: We can never escape Benedict Anderson, Bai-narrative, Quasi-history
4 months ago
To Hell with Poets by Baqytgul Sarmekova
Major themes: Aul literature, Looking for satisfaction, Having two faces
5 months ago
Office Hours - Why don't straight men read novels?
Major themes: A.I. bait, straight men and novels, TikTok killed the author-star
5 months ago
Strike! (1925) by Sergei Eisenstein
Major themes: Cow slaughter, Influencing the audience, Everything is montage
5 months ago
The Tears & Smiles of Things by Sodomora (w/ translators Dr. Roman Ivashkiv and Sabrina Jaszi)
Major themes: Reading antiquity, Tears and smiles, Translating translators
6 months ago
The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz
Major themes: Torturing matter, Doomed eroticism, Unfinished modernity
6 months ago
Devil's Yard by Ivo Andrić
Major themes: Narrative confusion, Residue of truth, The eyes have it
7 months ago
Four books that won’t leave me alone
I have a secret to admit to you: I don’t exclusively read Slavic fiction. Books from many regions haunt my mind. Here are four works that just won't leave me alone.
7 months ago
Life and Fate (Part 3, Chs. 49-61) by Grossman
Major themes: Bureaucracy, Stalingrad, the meaning of Life and Fate
8 months ago
Life and Fate Read Along, Part 3 Chapter 61
Some thoughts on Part 3, Chapter 61 of Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate.
8 months ago