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Cultural Cross-currents between Russia and Britain in the
Long Nineteenth Century
A Conference hosted by Tomsk State University and Birmingham City University
A Conference hosted by Tomsk State University and Birmingham City University
Amid this life based
on coercion, one and the same thought constantly emerged among different
nations, namely, that in every individual a spiritual element is manifested
that gives life to all that exists, and that this spiritual element strives to
unite with everything of a like nature to itself, and attains this aim through
love. - From A Letter to a Hindu by Leo Tolstoy
From Tolstoy’s reading of Trollope and Ruskin, to the
world-wide influence of Pushkin, the Western outlook of Turgenev and the
influence of Dostoyevsky on James Joyce, Russian and English literatures
influenced one another in the nineteenth century. This conference aims to
explore these cultural and literary cross-currents, and welcomes papers on
aspects of literature and history which explore this influence.
Two conferences will
take place: one at Tomsk State University on Friday/Saturday 20-21
September 2013 and one at Birmingham City University on Friday 19th July 2013.
Participants are welcome to attend either or both of these events. The
conferences are organised by Dr Irina Gnyusova (Russia) and Dr Serena
Trowbridge (UK).
We invite 250-word abstracts for 20-minute papers, to be
submitted to culturalcrosscurrents@gmail.com
by 1st March 2013. Papers may
consider a range of topics, including but not limited to:
- The influence of Russian literature on English writers
- The influence of English literature on Russian writers
- Cultural links between Britain and Russia in the nineteenth century
- Literary, social, political or artistic movements
- Anglo-Russian relations, from personal friendships to national relationships.
All papers will be considered for an edited collection of
essays on the subject, to be published in English and Russian. The final essays
will need to be around 6,000 words, and more information will be circulated
after the conferences have both taken place. When submitting your abstract,
please let us know which conference you wish to attend.
