In the Shadow of Prose: Russian Poetry in the Second Half of the 19th Century

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Although rich in both poets and texts, Russian poetry of the second half of the 19th century is often eclipsed within the robust frameworks developed for the study of prose, and particularly the novel, in this period. Thus, the very style and period-marker of realism has only limited applications to poetry; yet, no other category has been proposed in order to account for the poetry written in the interstice between romanticism and modernism. How to approach the poetry written in an “antipoetic age”? Participants in the roundtable will consider the many manifestations of this part of the Russian poetic tradition, including its relationship to prose fiction and the print culture of the day, its affects and affective communities, and the models of subjectivity that it put forth.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 19th Century

Chair

• Olga Y. Maiorova, U of Michigan

Roundtable Members

• Luba Golburt, UC Berkeley

• Konstantine Klioutchkine, Pomona College

• Tatiana Smorodinska, Middlebury College

• Ilya Vinitsky, Princeton U