皇家华人

Speaker Details:

Victor Erofeev. Born 43 years before the collapse of the USSR, Victor Erofeev became one of the most anti-soviet writers. A publication of his essay 鈥淢arquis de Sade: sadism and the XXth century鈥� brought him fame. In 1979, he produced a subversive literary almanac, 鈥淢etropol鈥�, to which many important Soviet writers contributed. The almanac was put into circulation via samizdat, to avoid Soviet censorship. As a result, Erofeev was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers and was banned from publishing until 1988; also, for the same reason, his father who was a high-rank diplomat lost his job.

Erofeev鈥檚 most popular novel is 鈥淩ussian Beauty鈥�, but also among his most remarkable works are the autobiographical novel The Good Stalin and the novel Life with an Idiot, which was turned into an opera by the prominent composer Alfred Shnitke. Almost each of his books provokes heated debates. This happened also with Encyclopaedia of the Russian Soul released in 1999, which represents the most critical view of the Russian people since Chaadayev.

Besides his literature activities, Victor Erofeev frequently appears on Russian television and radio, where, until recent time, he has had his own programs.

Zinovy Zinik is a Moscow-born British novelist and essayist. In his early writing Zinik had been influenced by his older friends and mentors, Alexander Asarkan (1930-2004), a mail-artist and theatre critic; and Pavel Ulitin (1918鈥�1986), who used the cut-ups technique in his prose. Zinik was stripped off his Soviet citizenship with his emigration to the West in 1975. In 1976 he was invited to contribute to the BBC radio and since 1977 he has been permanently living and working in London and became a British citizen in 1988. The ambiguities of 茅migr茅 existence, cultural dislocation, estrangement and the evasive nature of memory have become not only the main topic of Zinik鈥檚 prose that include novels, short stories, essays, lectures and radio broadcasts, but also his 鈥榣iterary device鈥�. Zinik鈥檚 eighteen books of prose published since his departure from Russia dwell on the dual existence of bilingual immigrants, religious converts, political exiles and outcasts 鈥� from habitu茅s of Soho (Mind the Door, Context Books, New York, 2001) to the sect of Jewish Muslims in Istanbul (Yarmulkes under the Turbans, 2017,The TLS, London) .

His comic novel Russian Service about an 茅migr茅 broadcaster as well as many of his short stories have been adapted for radio; his novel The Mushroom Picker (Heinemann, 1987) was made into a film by BBC TV (1993). His short comic opera Here Comes the Tiger was staged by Lyric Hammersmith theatre in London (1999). Zinik鈥檚 dramatic narrative My Father鈥檚 Leg was commissioned and broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in 2005 and published as a novel in Russian in 鈥淯ral鈥� magazine (2005).

J. Douglas Clayton is Professor Emeritus of Russian at the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he taught Russian language, literature, and culture for 44 years. Currently he teaches in the M.A. Program 鈥淲orld Literatures and Cultures.鈥� He is the author of two books on Pushkin 鈥� Ice and Flame: Aleksandr Pushkin鈥檚 Eugene Onegin, and Dimitry鈥檚 Shade, a study of Boris Godunov, as well as a study of commedia dell鈥檃rte in early 20th century Russian theatre, and numerous articles on Anton Chekhov.

Maria Rubins teaches Russian and comparative literature at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of University College London. Among her books are Russian Montparnasse: Transnational Writing in Interwar Paris (2015) and Crossroad of Arts, Crossroad of Cultures: Ecphrasis in Russian and French Poetry (2000). She is Editor of the BRILL book series 鈥淪tudies in Slavic literature and Poetics鈥� and of the UCL Press FRINGE series. She has published annotated editions of such Russian 茅migr茅 writers as Irina Odoevtseva and Vasily Yanovsky, and translated into Russian the fiction works of English and French authors, including Elizabeth Gaskell, Ir猫ne N茅mirovsky, Arnaud Delalande, and Judith Gautier. Before joining UCL she taught at Brown University, Rice University, the University of Georgia (USA) and at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy (Russia).

This event has been made possible by the generous support of The Future of Russia Foundation and is very kindly being hosted by Open Russia.

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