Russian/Eurasian Studies Program Presents
Language in Coma: Contemporary Russophone Antiwar Poetry
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Yuri Leving, Princeton University
This presentation is devoted to contemporary Russophone Antiwar Poetry. I will talk about an anthology Doomsday Poetry, recently published in Russia, which I edited. The volume testifies to the complex state of current Russian literature: its bewilderment, its turmoil, its profound shock. It includes contemporary Russophone Antiwar poems by more than 100 authors who reside in Russia, Ukraine, Europe, America, and the Near and Far East—their years of birth range from 1937 to 1997. All of the authors are united by their use of the art of poetry as the means of making sense of a collective trauma. The anthology opens with poems written just prior to the beginning of the military invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia and ends with those dated July 25. I will introduce selected authors (both in Russian and in English translation) and survey the reception of the book upon its publication, claiming that Doomsday Poetry stands as both a collective authorial statement and a mirror to the fractured state of Russian literature and society, echoing the broader discourse of war, cultural identity, and the role of art in times of crisis.For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Location: Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium