In Dialogue with the Antique: Russian Reception of Classical Literature

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Our panelists discuss receptions, translations, and reinterpretation of genres and themes from Ancient Greece and Rome, across decades and movements of Russian literature. We are particularly interested in how Russian writers felt connected to classical authors and genres and brought them into the sphere of the contemporary. Our panel spans a century, from Pushkin, to Tolstoy, to Merezhkovsky, to Vaginov, exploring each of their modes of receiving ancient literature.

Sub Unit

• Linguistics/Language Pedagogy/Translation

Chair

• Olivia Kennison, Brown U

Papers

• Tragedy Plunged into Reality: Konstantin Vaginov’s Goat Song and Biography - Brian Kilgour, Bryn Mawr College

• Identifying Ovidian Themes in Pushkin’s Tatiana: Language, Epistles, and the Muse - Chutong Liu, U of Oregon

• Christians before Christianity: Dmitri Merezhkovsky's Tragedies - Olivia Kennison, Brown U

• Freemasonry and Plato's Allegory of the Cave in Leo Tolstoy's 'War & Peace' - Melkon Charchoglyan, Brown U

Discussant

• Maksim Hanukai, U of Wisconsin-Madison