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.comby 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.
More information can be found on the conference website: http://culturalcrosscurrentsconference.wordpress.com