Return of the Great Russian Novel
The New Russian Realism with Liesl Schillinger
Thursday 24 May, 2012
7pm, $0
Housing Works Bookstore
126 Crosby Street
“The New Realism†is a key phrase in Russia’s contemporary literary scene. It signifies the sudden shift away from the edgy, conceptual and avant-garde post-Soviet-period experimental literature. A shift to direct narrative prose in which young writers interpret and frame the emerging reality of their radically new Russia. The origins and causes of the New Realism, along with its meaning, have yet to be determined. In the meantime, R2 continues to evolve, the realism even gaining a unexpected touch of magic…
Come meet three writers (and one critic) belonging of this generation and discuss with the driving forces behind their work. This evening’s event will be moderated by Liesl Schillinger.
Irina Bogatyreva was born in 1982 in Kazan, Tatarstan. In 2005, she graduated the prestigious Literary Institute in Moscow. She has been recognized by numerous literary awards and her stories and articles can be read in Russia’s leading literary journals. Bogatyreva writes on the most important issues for Russia’s younger generation, including the freedoms offered by Russia’s vibrant youth hitchhiking subculture, cults and the esoteric spirituality they appear to teach, and the magical appeal of Siberian unspoiled wilderness and the ancient civilizations that lived there. In every case, Bogatyreva is motivated by the search for inner freedom.
In that spirit, Bogatyreva’s “Off the Beaten Track†struck a chord in Russia. “The tale is largely autobiographical,†she explains. “The protagonists hitchhike from Moscow to the Altai, much as I once did. But from the day it was published, so many people saw themselves in my characters that I came to understand that it wasn’t my story alone, but the story of everyone who had ever experienced the joys and the thrill of the open road.â€
Alexander Snegirev was born in Moscow in 1980. By education he is a political scientist but currently works in construction design. Snegirev won the Debut Prize in 2005 for a collection of short stories entitled Russian Rhymes. His short novel How We Bombed America won the Writers’ Union Crown Prize in 2007. In 2009, his novel Petroleum Venus was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize and nominated for the Russian Booker (it was also on the bestseller list on Ozon.ru, Russia’s answer to Amazon.com). His latest novel is called Vanity.
and
Igor Savelyev was born in 1983 into a family of writers in Ufa in the southern Urals, where he still lives and works as a crime reporter for the local news agency. In 2004, his short novel Pale City became a cult classic for Russia’s youth culture. Based on first-hand experience, the novel is an inside view of the new generation’s yearning for independence, freedom and meaning.
Critics have raved about Savelyev’s “masterful, finely chiseled style based on brilliant counterpoints, like a virtuoso music piece.†In his works, “realism is bordering on phantasmagoria, a striking sample of new-generation psychological prose.†Savelyev received his degree in philology from Ufa University and is currently working on his dissertation on the topic of contemporary Russian literary criticism.
With them will be critic Valeria Pustovaya, who coined the term “The New Realism†in a landmark article. Pustovaya was born in 1982 in Moscow and is a graduate of Moscow University’s Journalism School. She heads the criticism department of one of the most important literary journals in Russia, one of the country’s great old literary journals, October. Among her teachers she names the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev and philosopher-historian Ostwald Spengler. Her articles have appeared in countless periodicals. It was for her critical essays that she won the Debut Prize – specifically, she won it for the article in which she coined the term “The New Realism.†She has also won the Gorky prize, the October Journal prize, the Novy Mir prize, and the New Pushkin Prize. She was one of the young writers who met with Putin in February of 2007. She is one of the members of the young critics’ group “PoPuGan.â€
This event is brought to you by Causa Artium, a NYC-based arts non-profit, in cooperation with the Debut Prize Foundation. For over a decade, the Debut Prize has sought out young Russian-speaking literary talent the world over. Receiving as many as 70,000 submissions annually, Debut is a vast competition, one of Russia’s elite literary honors and a landmark in the literary calendar, the brainchild of Andrei Skoch, a noted philanthropist, businessman and member of the Russian parliament.
Come meet three writers (and one critic) belonging of this generation and discuss with the driving forces behind their work. This evening’s event will be moderated by Liesl Schillinger.
Irina Bogatyreva was born in 1982 in Kazan, Tatarstan. In 2005, she graduated the prestigious Literary Institute in Moscow. She has been recognized by numerous literary awards and her stories and articles can be read in Russia’s leading literary journals. Bogatyreva writes on the most important issues for Russia’s younger generation, including the freedoms offered by Russia’s vibrant youth hitchhiking subculture, cults and the esoteric spirituality they appear to teach, and the magical appeal of Siberian unspoiled wilderness and the ancient civilizations that lived there. In every case, Bogatyreva is motivated by the search for inner freedom.
In that spirit, Bogatyreva’s “Off the Beaten Track†struck a chord in Russia. “The tale is largely autobiographical,†she explains. “The protagonists hitchhike from Moscow to the Altai, much as I once did. But from the day it was published, so many people saw themselves in my characters that I came to understand that it wasn’t my story alone, but the story of everyone who had ever experienced the joys and the thrill of the open road.â€
Alexander Snegirev was born in Moscow in 1980. By education he is a political scientist but currently works in construction design. Snegirev won the Debut Prize in 2005 for a collection of short stories entitled Russian Rhymes. His short novel How We Bombed America won the Writers’ Union Crown Prize in 2007. In 2009, his novel Petroleum Venus was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize and nominated for the Russian Booker (it was also on the bestseller list on Ozon.ru, Russia’s answer to Amazon.com). His latest novel is called Vanity.
and
Igor Savelyev was born in 1983 into a family of writers in Ufa in the southern Urals, where he still lives and works as a crime reporter for the local news agency. In 2004, his short novel Pale City became a cult classic for Russia’s youth culture. Based on first-hand experience, the novel is an inside view of the new generation’s yearning for independence, freedom and meaning.
Critics have raved about Savelyev’s “masterful, finely chiseled style based on brilliant counterpoints, like a virtuoso music piece.†In his works, “realism is bordering on phantasmagoria, a striking sample of new-generation psychological prose.†Savelyev received his degree in philology from Ufa University and is currently working on his dissertation on the topic of contemporary Russian literary criticism.
With them will be critic Valeria Pustovaya, who coined the term “The New Realism†in a landmark article. Pustovaya was born in 1982 in Moscow and is a graduate of Moscow University’s Journalism School. She heads the criticism department of one of the most important literary journals in Russia, one of the country’s great old literary journals, October. Among her teachers she names the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev and philosopher-historian Ostwald Spengler. Her articles have appeared in countless periodicals. It was for her critical essays that she won the Debut Prize – specifically, she won it for the article in which she coined the term “The New Realism.†She has also won the Gorky prize, the October Journal prize, the Novy Mir prize, and the New Pushkin Prize. She was one of the young writers who met with Putin in February of 2007. She is one of the members of the young critics’ group “PoPuGan.â€
This event is brought to you by Causa Artium, a NYC-based arts non-profit, in cooperation with the Debut Prize Foundation. For over a decade, the Debut Prize has sought out young Russian-speaking literary talent the world over. Receiving as many as 70,000 submissions annually, Debut is a vast competition, one of Russia’s elite literary honors and a landmark in the literary calendar, the brainchild of Andrei Skoch, a noted philanthropist, businessman and member of the Russian parliament.