The Slavic Literature Pod

The Slavic Literature Pod
  • 4.9 (42)
  • BOOKS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY
The Slavic Literature Pod Podcast

The Slavic Literature Pod is your guide to one of the most important—yet understudied—literary traditions. Every episode, Russian literature PhD Candidate Matt Gerasimovich and Personable Audio Expert Cameron Lallana dive deep into big books, short stories, film, and everything in between. You’ll get an approachable introduction to the scholarship and big ideas surrounding this canon three Fridays per month.

  1. 11 HR. AGO

    Office Hours - Enrolling in Jordan Peterson Academy

    Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron talk Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song, dropping the nuclear bomb (a timely conversation), and torturing your roommates by cooking cabbage. They’ll also be getting into a topic that everyone has been dying to know more about: Jordan Peterson Academy. Well…maybe not, no one has asked us about it, but Cameron is dying to know how they got his email. Get read to get real anti-intellectual and tune in!  Major themes: Lackluster dystopias, Cabbage torture, Jordan Peterson Academy 6:45 - It Can’t Happen Here is indeed authored by Sinclair Lewis. 41:42 - Politely and calmly discussing 1984 43:07 - Actually, his Master’s was in medical botany, but his PhD was in nutritional ethnomedicine. 50:06 - “Controversial professor Jordan Peterson retires from tenured position at U of T” by Lauren Alexander, Tahmeed Shafiq 1:03:42 “Churchill’s policies to blame for millions of Indian famine deaths, study says” by Bard Wilkinson 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.  Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠! 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 slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 13m

  2. SEP 13

    The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

    Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron are down with the sickness of Schulzomania, covering parts of the short story collection “The Street of Crocodiles” by Polish-Jewish literary superstar Bruno Schulz. They’ll be talking about “Visitation,” “Tailor’s Dummies,” and the eponymous “The Street of Crocodiles,” delving deep into Schulz’s surreal vision of his family and city. Order versus chaos, taking the formation of matter into our own hands, seductive tickling — we’ve got it all here! Get ready for it to get real confusing.  Major themes: Torturing matter, Doomed eroticism, Unfinished modernity 01:51 - 1973, not later ‘70s. “The Hourglass Sanatorium.” 07:37 - “The Battle Over Bruno Schulz’s Final Works” by Adam Kirsch 30:42 - “Thinking about Absurdity with Bruno Schulz: Paradox and Potential” by Shlomit Gorin 51:27 - “Bruno Schulz and Seductive Discourse” by Jerzy Jarzębski 57:31 - “Are Crocodiles Flawless? The Reptiles Haven’t Changed in 200 Million Years” by Elizabeth Gamillo but counterpoint: “Modern Crocodiles Are Evolving at a Rapid Rate” by Riley Black 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 slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 16m

  3. SEP 6

    Devil's Yard by Ivo Andrić

    Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron chart new territory by covering the novella Devil's Yard by Yugoslav writer, poet, and diplomat (at varying times) Ivo Andrić. Covering a story within a story, they’ll have plenty to say about the construction of narrative, storytelling from the core and periphery of empire, and what’s up with everybody talking about eyes, huh? Grab your prison blanket, find a safe spot to sleep in the yard, and tune in!  Major themes: Narrative confusion, Residue of truth, The eyes have it 10:35 - “Narrative and Narrative Structure in Ivo Andric’s Devil’s Yard” by Mary P. Coote 00:00 - “Ivo Andric in English Translation” by Albert B. Lord 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 slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 2m

  4. AUG 16

    August Break - The Czech Manuscripts (w/ author Dr. David L. Cooper)

    Note: This episode originally aired in February 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series Life and Fate episodes they thought deserved more attention. Pick up a copy of The Czech Manuscripts here. Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by Professor David L. Cooper to talk about his new book The Czech Manuscripts: Forgery, Translation, and National Myth. In the book, Dr. Cooper takes a new look at the so-called Czech Manuscripts — several forged literary works that played a large role in 19th Century Czech national identity-building — using several approaches to tackle what trends shaped them and how they were treated in turn.  David L. Cooper is Associate Professor and Head of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. A specialist in Czech and Russian literatures, his research is in the areas of nationalism in literature, forgery and mystification, translation history and translation studies, and history of criticism. David has published translations of Slovak folktales and a critical edition of the poems of the Czech 19th-century forged manuscripts, The Queen’s Court and Green Mountain Manuscripts with Other Forgeries of the Czech Revival (Ann Arbor, 2018). Major themes: National identity, forgery or fiction, more medieval poetry 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 slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    57 min

  5. AUG 9

    August Break - Ochre & Rust by Gandlevsky (w/translator Philip J. Metres)

    Note: This episode originally aired in January 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series Life and Fate episodes they thought deserved more attention. Pick up a copy of Ochre & Rust from Green Linden Press’ website. Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron tackle some of the work of Sergey Gandlevsky, translated by Philip J. Metres and collected in Ochre & Rust. Tune in to hear more about one of Russia’s most celebrated modern poets, self-described outsider who drifted around the edges of the USSR (and, later, the Russian Federation) and cataloged his thoughts and experiences in his poems.  Philip Metres is a poet, scholar, translator, essayist, and peacebuilder. He is the author of twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge (2024), Ochre & Rust: New Selected Poems of Sergey Gandlevsky (2023), Shrapnel Maps (2020), The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance (2018), and Sand Opera (2015). His work has garnered fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Watson Foundation. He has been awarded the Adrienne Rich Award, three Arab American Book Awards, the Cleveland Arts Prize, and the Hunt Prize. Philip has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.” He is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He is also Core Faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts.   You can find more from Philip on his website and see some other links he’s shared on his linktree.  Major themes: Prodigious drinking, After the USSR’s dissolution, Andrei Bolkonsky returns 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 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 4m

  6. AUG 2

    August Break - Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture (w/ author Dr. Maya Vinokour)

    Note: This episode originally aired in April 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series Life and Fate episodes they thought deserved more attention. You can pick up a copy of Dr. Maya Vinokour’s book Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture here.  Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron sit down with Dr. Maya Vinokour to talk about her book Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture and touch on Daniil Kharms’ short story “How the Old Woman Tried to Buy Ink.”  Dr. Vinokour is Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian & Slavic Studies at New York University and the author of Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture. Her interests include Stalinism and Nazism, late-Soviet science fiction, post-Soviet media, and the global Far Right. She recently published an article in Jacobin on a phenomenon she calls "lifestyle fascism." Major themes: Flow, cosmic symbology, energy reserves 39:45 - “How the Old Woman Tried to Buy Ink” by Daniil Kharms 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 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 3m

  7. JUL 19

    Life and Fate (Part 3, Chs. 49-61) by Grossman

    Show Notes: They said it couldn’t be done; they said it was too much work; they say it was simply too much Grossman. (The ‘they’ here is Matt and Cameron, to be clear). This week, more than 7 months after starting their Life and Fate series, Matt and Cameron proved them (us) wrong by covering Chapters 49 through 61 of Part 3. It’s time to say goodbye to characters we’ve followed across nearly 900 pages (or around 1700 pages if you also read Stalingrad), with many of them going out on notes both painful and poignant. But the novel’s end does not imply the end of Grossman’s characters — you’ll get what we mean soon enough.  Major themes: Bureaucracy, Stalingrad, the meaning of Life and Fate 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.  Buy this book with our affiliate links on ⁠Bookshop⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠! 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 slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 10m

  8. JUN 28

    Life and Fate (Part 3, Chs. 19-48) by Grossman

    Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron stay in Stalingrad to the bitter end, covering Chapters 19 to 48 in Part 3 of Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate. Stalin’s phone calls, the 6th Army’s surrender, and senseless kindness oh my! It’s all coming together. Get your horsemeat and get ready to tune in. Major themes: Unrewarded kindness, family ties, the State and the individual 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 slaviclitpod@gmail.com or call our voicemail at 209.800.3944 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 8m
See All (149)

4.9
out of 5
42 Ratings

About

The Slavic Literature Pod is your guide to one of the most important—yet understudied—literary traditions. Every episode, Russian literature PhD Candidate Matt Gerasimovich and Personable Audio Expert Cameron Lallana dive deep into big books, short stories, film, and everything in between. You’ll get an approachable introduction to the scholarship and big ideas surrounding this canon three Fridays per month.

Information

  • Creator
    The Slavic Literature Pod
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2024
  • Episodes
    149
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Slavic Literature Pod
  • Show Website
    The Slavic Literature Pod

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada