Trans-Sib Railway as Depicted in Literature

[Andrey Shcherbenok]

Contemporary Russian theater super-star Evgenii Grishkovets, who himself
comes from Kemerovo, talks about the railroad in some of his plays, for
example, in "Kak ia s'el sobaku"
http://www.lib.ru/PXESY/GRISHKOWEC/sobaka.txt
he describes his trip from Kemerovo to the Far East when he went to serve in
the Navy, in "Odnovremenno" there is a section on the romanticism of
railroad travel, at the very beginning of the play
http://www.lib.ru/PXESY/GRISHKOWEC/together.txt
There are also references to it in his recent novel "Reki", which, as a
whole, is by and large about the perception of Russian geography.

By the way, as a Russian coming from St. Petersburg, I can testify that, for
me, my trips to Siberia (the first one in 1999) via this railroad were among
the strongest cultural experiences in my life, so it is not only foreigners
who romanticize this railroad. 

Andrey Shcherbenok
Columbia University

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Jon Kyst
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 2:14 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] SV: [SEELANGS] Trans-Sib Railway as Depicted in
Literature

I think it's going to be hard to find modern Russian texts about the
Trans-Siberian Railway as such. To the foreign tourist, it's the famous
Trans-Siberian Railway. There must be hundreds of travel descriptions
available from people who bought a ticket from Moscow to
Vladivostok/Beijing. However, the closer you get to the railway, it simply
becomes the train you take to go from one place to another in Siberia. 
Other, more recently built railways are at least as culturally significant.
Especially if they didn't have an easy birth, like BAM.

My 5 kopecks,
Jon Kyst
Ph.D.
Lecturer of Russian
University of Copenhagen


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] På vegne af Emily Saunders
Sendt: 16. november 2006 08:03
Til: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Emne: Re: [SEELANGS] Trans-Sib Railway as Depicted in Literature

There is a most vivid description of traveling on the Turk-Sib in the  
30's in Fitzroy Maclean's book "Eastern Approaches."  Not strictly  
Trans-Sib, but very a very good read.

In terms of non-fiction, Vera Panova's "Poezd" comes to mind about a  
WWII hospital train.  Most of it takes place on the Western Front, but  
I do believe that there is a section where they head towards  
Novosibirsk.

Emily Saunders


On Nov 15, 2006, at 10:53 AM, Sarah Kapp wrote:

> Greetings SEELANGSers,
>
> I am writing an article about the general history of the Trans-Siberian
> Railway, but I am curious about any literary depictions of the  
> railroad you
> might know of.
>
> If you happen to know of any references to the Trans-Sib in Russian (or
> other) literature, would you be so kind as to send them along?  General
> suggestions of books or poems to investigate would be appreciated as  
> well.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sarah Kapp
> shkapp at gmail.com
>
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