Africans in Russian literature and film

[Alexei Bogdanov]

Barmalei reminded me of Valery Ronshin’s short story “My Flight to Malaysia”
(GLAS New Russian Writing, No. 14 “Beyond the Looking.”  Hilarious and
probably offensive.

Alexei Bogdanov
CU-Boulder

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Natalia Yefimova-Trilling
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 4:29 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Africans in Russian literature and film

Dear John,

Sergei Solovyov's hugely popular 1987 film "Assa" features a tragicomic Afro-Russian character called Негр Витя (played, I think, in blackface by a white musician, Dmitry Shumilov). And Chukovsky's children's poem "Barmalei" is famous for its injunction not to go playing in Africa with its scary animals and eponymous child-eating villain.

Best,
Natasha


On Apr 5, 2012, at 9:44 PM, John Lyles wrote:


Dear Colleagues,

Some of my students are doing a research project on the depiction of Africans in Russian literature and film, as well as their treatment by society (I realize the enormous nature of this task, but I am hoping they will begin to scratch the surface of it and perhaps remain interested in minority depictions and treatment in Russia after the class).  I have given them a few places to begin, but I was wondering if any of you knew off the top of your head some good sources.  I have already pointed them to Circus and Pushkin, as well as many works of Socialist Realism, but are there any others that you know of that would be good sources?  I am thinking in particular of a documentary about Pushkin and Jim Patterson, but I can't remember the name of it.  Thanks for any help you can give!

Sincerely,
John Lyles
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