Call for Papers: Russian literature since 1991

[Oliver Ready]

DECADENCE OR RENAISSANCE? RUSSIAN LITERATURE SINCE 1991



A three-day international conference at St Antony’s College, Oxford
University, 24-26 September 2012



Confirmed keynote speakers:

Professor Mark Lipovetsky (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Mikhail Shishkin, novelist



Convener: Dr Oliver Ready (Oxford)

Administrator: Nina Kruglikova (Oxford)



What have been the main achievements in Russian prose and poetry of the
past twenty years, both inside and outside the ‘motherland’? And what have
been the most interesting and innovative tendencies in literature of this
period?

Beyond a handful of familiar names, new Russian writers remain little-known
and little-read, both within Slavic studies and among the general public.
‘Decadence or Renaissance?’ is intended to advance knowledge and
understanding of Russian literature of the post-Soviet period among
scholars, publishers and translators.

We especially welcome proposals for papers that map neglected aspects of
Russian fiction and poetry of the last twenty years, whether individual
works or writers, themes or techniques. Equally welcome are considerations
of the evolution of the ‘literary process’ in the past two decades: topics
may include, for example, the role of critics and publishers; the shifting
status of ‘elite’ and ‘mass’ literature; and the role of the ‘thick’
literary journals, the Internet and commercial venues in the development of
new writing. We also invite papers that consider how and to what extent
Russian literature since 1991 has been represented in English translation.

**

We look forward to receiving your proposals.* *Abstracts of 300-400 words
should be submitted to oliver.ready at sant.ox.ac.uk and
nina.kruglikova at gmail.com by* Friday, 18 May. *Please send any enquiries
about the conference to the same addresses. The language of the conference
will be English, and papers should last no longer than 20 minutes.

Pending the outcome of funding applications, we hope to be able to cover
the cost of speakers’ accommodation and meals, and to offer a few travel
bursaries to selected postgraduate speakers.

It is hoped that the best papers to emerge from the conference will be
collected in a volume of articles edited by Oliver Ready.

**

About the keynote speakers:

Mark Lipovetsky’s books include *Russian Postmodernist Fiction: Dialogue
with chaos *(1999) and *Paralogii: Transformatsii (post)modernistskogo
diskursa v russkoi kul’ture 1920-2000 godov *(2008).

Mikhail Shishkin’s novels include *Pis’movnik* (Big Book Prize, 2011), *Venerin
volos *(National Bestseller Prize, 2005) and *Vzyatie Izmaila *(Russian
Booker Prize, 2000).

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