The Slavic Literature Pod

Show Notes:This week, Cameron dives into the final entry into Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Silent Trilogy, “Earth” (1930). The film’s deceptively simple plot—of a tractor delivery to a collectivizing village in Ukraine is followed by the murder of a local Bolshevik organizer—doesn’t hinder its avant-garde stylings, employing a montage of loose logical associations better described as dream logic, moving from people to fruit to threshing in a way that demands your attention. Yeah, that’s right — I’m arguing that a socialist realist work about tractors is super interesting. A novel concept for the podcast, I know. You can watch Earth (1930) in excellent quality here: “Earth” (1930) x bijuOffscreen Dreams and Collective Synthesis in Dovzhenko’s Earth by Elizabeth A. PapazianAll in the Foreground: A Study of Dovzhenko’s Earth by Gilberto PerezDovzhenko: Folk Tale and Revolution by Gilberto PerezDeath and life on Alexander Dovzhenko by Jonathan RosenbaumThe Dovzhenko Papers by Marco CarynnykWho is Hidden behind the Figure of a Genius? The Context of Dovzhenko’s Work by Anna Tsymbal Subversions in Dovzhenko’s Earth by Romana M. Bahry“Ukranian masterpieces: Earth (1930) - Dovzhenko”Earth: Analysis of Film Form, Auteur Characteristics and ContextThe 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 | FacebookQuestions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected] Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:This week, Ally Pitts — host of A Russian & Soviet Movie Podcast — joins Cameron to talk about the book Not Russian by Mikhail Shevelev. The book follows veteran journalist Pavel Vladimirovich as an old friend’s sudden reappearance at the head of a terror attack forces him to reflect on his history as a Russian journalist and how things turned out this way. You can find Ally on his Twitter @Alistair_Pitts and on Instagram under @ally_pitts_movies_etc. You can find A Russian & Soviet Movie podcast anywhere you listen to your audio. Our prior episode with Ally on Anna Karenina film adaptations.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 | FacebookQuestions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected] Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:This week, Cameron dives into Andrei Platonov’s Chevengur, covering chapters 1 through 25. Through the late Russian Empire into the early Soviet Union, Sasha Dvanov is finally orphaned when his fisherman father drowns in an attempt to understand his all-knowing, deathless fish. Growing up in the shuffling shadow of the new world, he joins the Bolshevik party and seeks to spread communism. This episode covers his adventures trying to find out if the peasants have, after the abdication of the Tsar, suddenly begun to embrace communist lives. From anarchist militias to a Bolshevik Fyodor Dostoevsky, he finds little to approve of in the countryside.Check out our old episode covering The Cow and the Third Son.A Companion to Andrei Platonov’s “The Foundation Pit” by Thomas Seyfrid.Time out of line: Sequence and plot in Andrei Platonov’s Chevengur by by Hallie A. WhiteThe 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 | FacebookQuestions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected] Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:This week, Cameron returns to Vasily Grossman, covering his first novel of World War II, The People Immortal. I’ll write more later, but it’s almost 5 a.m. and I have to be at work in four hours. Womp womp. 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 | FacebookQuestions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected] Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:This week, Cameron dives into Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic and Hai Fan’s Delicious Hunger, trying to probe the question plaguing recent episodes: “What is the value of art during wartime?”Deaf Republic tells an all-too-familiar parable of a town under occupation, subjected to abuse and murder, and how the people there chose their own forms of resistance to occupation. Delicious Hunger tackles the issue from another angle: Hai Fan is the pen name for Ang Tiam Huat, a guerilla who fought for the Malaysian Communist Party for over a decade. His book fictionalizes the stories and struggles of his comrades during their years in the rainforest. Hai Fan’s interview during Ethos Books’ launch party for Delicious Hunger.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 | FacebookQuestions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected] Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands