Pushkin House Podcast

Frankie Shalom speaks to Emily Couch, who lived in Russia as an ethnically Chinese British student, and Vijay Menon, who travelled on the Trans-Siberian Railway and wrote the book A Brown Man in Russia about his experiences. They discuss the trials and joys of travelling in Russia, and talk about their experiences of Russians’ reactions to their presence. This episode was presented and recorded for Pushkin House by Frankie Shalom. The editor and series producer was Rafy Hay. Our thanks to Emily Couch and Vijay Menon. Listen here on the Pushkin House website, on Apple podcasts, or via Acast.

What is a banya? What do Russians do when they go to the steam-room, and what are those conical hats they’re wearing? Madeleine Cuckson speaks to Banya No. 1 founder Andrei Fomin to answer all the questions you might have had about the traditions and future of the Russian bathhouse. This episode was presented and recorded for Pushkin House by Madeleine Cuckson. The series producer was Rafy Hay. Our thanks to Andrei Fomin and everyone at Banya No. 1.

Ada Wordsworth speaks to Maria Kuznetsova, Alina Z, and Alina D, three young Muscovites who took part in protests this week against Alexei Navalny’s recent incarceration. They describe the reasons for their support of Navalny - even in the face of political disagreements with him - as well as the reaction of their friends and family, and the possible outcomes of the protest. This episode was presented and edited for Pushkin House by Ada Wordsworth, and produced by Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf. The series producer was Rafy Hay. Our thanks to all the participants.

Ada Wordsworth speaks to Alexander and Suzy, two young Russians. They recount their experiences of coming out to family, friends and colleagues; describe the differences in Russia between the ways gay men and lesbians are treated; and tell us about their hopes and expectations for the future of LGBT+ rights and opportunities in Russia. This episode was presented and edited for Pushkin House by Ada Wordsworth, and produced by Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf. The series producer was Rafy Hay. Our thanks to Alexander Ankudinov and Suzy for participating. Contains some strong language.

Sergei Medvedev on the resurrection and future of the Russian authoritarian state How has the Russian state evolved since the fall of the USSR, and is there a way to oppose it? Sergei Medvedev is the winner, with his book The Return of the Russian Leviathan, of the 2020 Pushkin House Book Prize. Here, he speaks to Andrew Jack, journalist with the Financial Times and chair of the advisory committee of the Book Prize, about the current state of the Russian State. Medvedev recently lost his job at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow due to his outspoken critique of Putin’s regime, but he describes how he won’t follow the example of other critics in leaving Russia.

Young Pushkin volunteer Ada Wordsworth spoke remotely to three participants in the Fridays for Future strikes, who are on the frontline of climate activism in Russia: Arshak Makichyan in Moscow, Dasha Khamaza in St Petersburg, and Daria Anufrieva in Irkutsk. They describe the challenges and successes they've had in pressuring their local and national governments to respond to the gathering storm of climate change, and swimming against a current of apathy and scepticism from the rest of society. Presented and edited by Ada Wordsworth, and produced by Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf. Series produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

In the latest of our archive recordings to be unearthed, we have here a 1969 lecture from the not-yet-29-year-old John Innes Stuart (1940-2003) - a renowned expert on Russian icons and historian of British biker culture. A remarkable character, Johnny was born in Aberdeen, educated at Eton, and was working as a porter at Sotheby’s auctioneers when his extensive knowledge of Russian icons was found to be greater than any of their experts. A convert at the age of 18 to Russian Orthodoxy, he went on to establish the Russian department at Sotheby’s in 1976, as well as his own consultancy with Ivan Samarine in 1995. Originally titled ‘Some aspects of collecting, restoring and studying icons, 1830-1917’, this lecture gives an extensive history of the study and appreciation of Russian icons - from their creation and then literal concealment (by soot and the ornate silver okladki that covered them), to their appraisal as objects of academic interest, and of art in their own right. This episode was recorded on 9th May, 1969 at Pushkin House in Ladbroke Grove. The recording was catalogued and digitised by Anastasia Koro and Andrey Levitskiy, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

“The most essential horrors revealed by Gogol are not of Russia, but of the soul...” Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (1809-1852) is one of the most important figures of Russian literature, initiating a prose tradition that influenced everyone who came after him. In this lecture from the Pushkin House salon at its old home in Ladbroke Grove, preeminent writer and critic Victor Erlich elucidates with characteristic wit and incision the elements of Gogol’s metaphors and plots which draw on the grotesque. In these surreal and bizarre images, Gogol reveals truths about our world and our selves which are always strikingly compelling. This talk and discussion was recorded at some point between 1963 and 1968 — we know this to be the case as Erlich is mentioned as chair of the Yale department of Slavic languages and literature, a post he held between those dates — and likely near the end of that period, as his book Gogol (1969) is mentioned as upcoming. Erlich speaks about all of Gogol’s main works, including the Ukrainian Tales, the Petersburg Tales — Nevsky Prospect, The Nose and The Overcoat; Taras Bulba, Diary of a Madman, and his final controversial masterpiece, Dead Souls. This episode was catalogued and digitised by Anastasia Koro and Andrey Levitskiy, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, in archive footage from 1961, enlightens the salon at Pushkin House Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (1914-2003), a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain, was one of the most important figures in the Russian Orthodoxy of his day. His many admirers attest that he combined a philosophical understanding of Christianity with high intelligence and personal charm. He became widely known to English speaking audiences for his BBC radio and TV broadcasts, exploring the intellectual and spiritual roots of Christianity. In this talk, recorded in 1961 and recently discovered in the vaults of Pushkin House, Metropolitan Anthony shares insights on Russian faith and spirituality and challenges the assumption that it is rooted in paganism. This episode was catalogued and digitised by Anastasia Koro and Andrey Levitskiy, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

Darra Goldstein speaks about her new cookbook to Pushkin House’s director Clem Cecil Speaking via Zoom from her home in Massachusetts, food writer and Russianist Darra Goldstein discusses the process and peculiarities of writing a book on Russian cuisine. ‘Beyond the North Wind’ focuses on the food of the far north - the Kola Peninsula and the Solovetsky Islands - a land the ancient Greeks called Hyperborea. In conversation with Clem Cecil, Darra talks about how the hardy conditions in the north form the perfect crucible for a healthy, delicious cuisine. Check out her recipe for raspberry kvass, as mentioned in the podcast, here. This podcast was recorded on 13th April 2020 and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

Charlotte Moore recounts the stranger-than-fiction tale of her great-great-great-uncle 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. This podcast episode was recorded on 22nd January, 2020, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

Robert Chandler and Boris Dralyuk discuss the best translations of Russian literature 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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

“He saw them in such an undeniably concrete way, that it would have seemed to him falsehood not to mention them…” 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 2020, was the author of numerous works on linguistics and comparative literature, and was hugely respected as a cultural critic and essayist. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

“A man becomes a beast in three weeks, given heavy labour, cold, hunger, and beatings.” Under Stalin, poet and journalist Varlam Shalamov faced fifteen years of brutal enforced labour 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. While Shalamov’s work is often compared to Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s, Shalamov refuses to sentimentalise his harrowing experiences or engage in ideological battles. The irredeemable exists, he insists, and this new volume centres on the seemingly boundless displays of immorality he witnessed in the camps and the mines. Author and translator Donald Rayfield speaks about the second volume of his new translation of Shalamov’s Kolyma Tales, Sketches of the Criminal World, in conversation with Pushkin House’s Rafy Hay. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by 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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Borimir Totev. Music featured in this episode: Chad Crouch - Negentropy, Sergey Cheremisinov - Gray Drops, Sergey Cheremisinov - Northern Lullaby.

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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Borimir Totev.

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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Borimir Totev. Music featured in this episode: Circus Marcus - The Fifth Life, Xylo-Ziko - Phase 2.

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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Borimir Totev. Music featured in this episode: Chad Crouch - Headwaters Instrumental, Chad Crouch - Cove Instrumental, Chad Crouch - The Light-filtering Canopy Instrumental.

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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Borimir Totev. Music featured in this episode: Chad Crouch - Moonrise, Chad Crouch - Algorithms, Chad Crouch - Elipsis, Chad Crouch - Negentropy.

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. This podcast episode was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Borimir Totev. Music featured in this episode: 4bstr4ck3r - Ukrainian riddim, Anamorphic Orchestra - Signs Of Life.