MEDIA
BBC Radio
“Open Book” Discussion of “classic dystopia” and Zamiatin’s novel
November 29, 2020
Yevgeny Zamyatin's landmark dystopia We, a direct influence on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984, is a hundred years old. Margaret Atwood joins to discuss her introduction to a new translation, along with Professor of Russian literature at UCL, Maria Rubins...
Emigranti - 1917 Revisited
November 5, 2017
How do Russia's latest cultural émigrés feel about leaving their homeland? In Russia, culture is increasingly on the front line - many writers, theatre directors and academics feel stifled or under attack. Lucy Ash hears from those who have wrestled with the dilemma of whether to leave. For some, working abroad opens up space to think, while for others, the grief of obscurity can be all-encompassing...
Tim Key and Gogol's Overcoat
October 30, 2015
The Overcoat. Written in 1842, it's a fable of a simple clerk, Akakiy Akakievich, whose desire for a new coat to keep the St Petersburg winter at bay forever changes his life...and ultimately destroys him...
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Originally aired on BBC Radio 4, November 12, 2012
Poetry and the Russian Soul
July 27, 2008
Effectively a creation of the 18th century, poetry was vital in creating a natural language and form of expression as modern Russia forged a separate identity from the old world of the Slavonic church. Pushkin was its first hero and remains the archetype of the brilliant but doomed poet whose quest for the essential truth of his nation and people carries with it fatal consequences...
The Archive Hour: The Snowy Streets of Saint Petersburg
January 12, 2008
Effectively a creation of the 18th century, poetry was vital in creating a natural language and form of expression as modern Russia forged a separate identity from the old world of the Slavonic church. Pushkin was its first hero and remains the archetype of the brilliant but doomed poet whose quest for the essential truth of his nation and people carries with it fatal consequences...