Pushkin House Podcast

Benjamin Leigh Smith, born in 1828, was the polymath illegitimate son of an MP. Born into a radical family, by various twists and turns of fate he ended up as an explorer of the frozen north.

His fifth expedition ended in the wreck of his ship, Eira, and ten months of gruelling survival in the arctic, before a daring escape via makeshift longboat. The only tragedy is that this story of ingenuity and resolve isn’t better known.

By popular demand, Pushkin House presents a recording of our event from 15th January 2020. Acclaimed translators Robert Chandler and Boris Dralyuk discuss the best English versions of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol and others, with guest appearances from Antony Wood and Nicolas Pasternak Slater.

Tolstoy's characters seem to come alive so much, George Steiner argues, because they have their own internal lives, hidden even from the author. Of course, it was the author who made it so, but Tolstoy's treatment of his characters as autonomous individuals may not have been an entirely conscious decision...

As part of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the founding of Pushkin House, Dr Steiner of Cambridge gave this lecture, originally entitled 'Tolstoy and the Human Person', at the Pushkin Club in Ladbroke Grove, on 24th January, 1964. Steiner, who died in February, was the author of numerous works on linguistics and comparative literature, and was hugely respected as a cultural critic and essayist.

Under Stalin, poet and journalist Varlam Shalamov faced fifteen years of brutal enforced labor in the gold and coal mines of Kolyma. These years formed the basis of his life’s work, Kolyma Tales, a monumental collection of short stories that took him nearly twenty years to complete. Donald Rayfield speaks about his new translation, in conversation with Pushkin House's Rafy Hay.

More than melting ice. How should we understand the Russian Arctic? Elena Zaytseva talks with artist Ruth Maclennan about her exhibition exploring the Russian Arctic, as a place to live in, to travel through, to project onto, to control and exploit for its natural resources, in the context of the climate emergency.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? We took to the streets of Bloomsbury to figure out what the public sees. An outdoor projection animates the exterior wall of Pushkin House on Bloomsbury Square on the opening night of Icebreaker Dreaming, a new solo exhibition by the artist Ruth Maclennan. Borimir Totev took to the streets of Bloomsbury Square for a social experiment.

What would you ask Gorbachev if you ended up in the same room? Borimir Totev talks with British documentary film-maker and anthropologist, André Singer, about his film ‘Meeting Gorbachev’. Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union, sat down to discuss the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.

Why did the Soviets turn against religion? Borimir Totev talks with Roland Elliott Brown, author of ‘Godless Utopia: Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda’, about the USSR’s war against religion of all denominations. Drawing on the early Soviet atheist magazines Godless and Godless at the Machine, and post-war posters by Communist Party publishers, Roland presents an unsettling tour of atheist ideology in the USSR.

An audio guide to the 'In Paradise’ exhibition by Margarita Gluzberg. Borimir Totev follows artist Margarita Gluzberg, as she navigates the Zone of her Stalker inspired exhibition.

What are the Vory? A history of Russia’s super mafia from its Stalin era heydays to the late Soviet period. Borimir Totev talks with Mark Galeotti, author of The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia, about Russia’s super mafia.