Exploring Extractive Poetics: Beyond the Literary Realm

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

With the increasing urgency of climate change and recent growth in scholarly interest in the portrayal of environmental themes in Russian and Eurasian literature, the time is apt to explore new interpretative directions and poetics within (and beyond) the field of literary studies. This roundtable is centered on the theme of extractive poetics and its embodiments in the 20th and 21st century Russophone literary context. Each presenter will first provide a brief overview of their research, broaching a variety of authors, periods, and themes - from early Soviet oil aesthetics as reflected in literature to an ecofeminist critique of the Khanty poet Maria Vagatova to an ecocritical reading of Ilf and Petrov. The presenters will then address questions of the broader implications of extractive poetics. What can be gained and what can be potentially lost from its pursuit? What is its significance beyond the field of literary studies? How can we utilize extractive poetics as a tool to re-envision research (and, just as importantly, curricula) and to mold a new form of literary critique and interdisciplinary practice (liberating narratives and scholarship from dominant and dogmatic interpretative models, Soviet and Western alike)? Is extractive poetics useful in other fields and could it inform activist practice? The roundtable format is particularly suitable for this project due to its dialogic nature and scope that extends beyond the literary field.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 20th Century

Chair

• Reed Adam Johnson, Bowdoin College

Roundtable Members

• Savannah Eklund, Columbia U

• Rose FitzPatrick, Yale U

• Mira Nikolova, U of Virginia