The Slavic Literature Pod

Show Notes:

This week, Cameron returns to the beginning of Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Ukrainian Trilogy with “Zvenihora.” The film, released in 1928, explores a thousand years of Ukrainian history — spanning from Varangian invasion to the rise of the Soviet Union. The film is a fascinating take on Soviet film, mashing together Ukrainian culture and the new, Soviet reality.

You may have noticed this episode is two hours long….so, I decided to look into why I was finding inconsistent information on Dovzhenko’s life in the episode on “Earth.” Turns out, there’s a good reason for that. Oh, boy, do we get into that in this episode.

Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s 1939 autobiography

My notes on George Liber’s Alexander Dovzhenko: A Life in Soviet Film

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 
Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected].

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:

This week, we see that every author starts somewhere in Anton Chekhov, Earliest Stories: Stories, Novellas, Humoresques, 1880-1882. To talk about Chekhov’s earliest published stories, Cameron sits down with Elena Michajlowska and Rosamund Bartlett. The pair not only edited the collection, but also oversaw the unusual editing process that involved 83 other translators across the world.

They’ll talk about where Chekhov was this early in his career, the editing process and what kinds of stories we find among this juvanalia. 

Book tickets for Rosamund and Elena’s event at Pushkin House here.

Follow the Anton Chekhov Foundation on Instagram @antonchekhovfoundation 

Read more on the foundation’s blog here.

Check out their website antonchekhovfoundation.org

Learn more about the Early Chekhov Translation Project here

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 
Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected].

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:
This week, Cameron talks a little bit about director Sergei Parajanov’s “Sayat Nova” (also known as The Color of Pomegranates), and five other films he really liked this year. 

Want to see the video version of this episode? Check it out here: https://youtu.be/khXaVt0ilFc

Also, sorry, the name of the theater is Dreamland Cinema. I forgot to say that in the video. 

An Analysis of the Color of Pomegranates by YouTuber Blythe

Sinners and the Death of Black art by YouTube F. D. Signifier

Goodnight Irene, dir. by Sterlin Harjo

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 
Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected].

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:

This week, Cameron dives into the final entry into Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Silent Trilogy, “Earth” (1930). The film’s deceptively simple plot—of a tractor delivery to a collectivizing village in Ukraine is followed by the murder of a local Bolshevik organizer—doesn’t hinder its avant-garde stylings, employing a montage of loose logical associations better described as dream logic, moving from people to fruit to threshing in a way that demands your attention. 

Yeah, that’s right — I’m arguing that a socialist realist work about tractors is super interesting. A novel concept for the podcast, I know. 

You can watch Earth (1930) in excellent quality here: “Earth” (1930) x biju

Offscreen Dreams and Collective Synthesis in Dovzhenko’s Earth by Elizabeth A. Papazian
All in the Foreground: A Study of Dovzhenko’s Earth by Gilberto Perez
Dovzhenko: Folk Tale and Revolution by Gilberto Perez
Death and life on Alexander Dovzhenko by Jonathan Rosenbaum
The Dovzhenko Papers by Marco Carynnyk
Who is Hidden behind the Figure of a Genius? The Context of Dovzhenko’s Work by Anna Tsymbal 
Subversions in Dovzhenko’s Earth by Romana M. Bahry
“Ukranian masterpieces: Earth (1930) - Dovzhenko”
Earth: Analysis of Film Form, Auteur Characteristics and Context

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 
Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected].

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Show Notes:
This week, Ally Pitts — host of A Russian & Soviet Movie Podcast — joins Cameron to talk about the book Not Russian by Mikhail Shevelev. The book follows veteran journalist Pavel Vladimirovich as an old friend’s sudden reappearance at the head of a terror attack forces him to reflect on his history as a Russian journalist and how things turned out this way. 

You can find Ally on his Twitter @Alistair_Pitts and on Instagram under @ally_pitts_movies_etc. You can find A Russian & Soviet Movie podcast anywhere you listen to your audio. 

Our prior episode with Ally on Anna Karenina film adaptations.

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

Our links: Website | ⁠Discord⁠ 
Socials: Instagram⁠ | BlueSky | Twitter⁠ | Facebook

Questions, comments, want to hear your voice on a bonus episode? Send us an email at [email protected].

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands