Crisis of the Humanities, Soviet-style: Translating K. Vaginov
Friday, Aug 07, 2020 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Location:
Online
Ainsley Morse and Geoff Cebula discuss their work translating the four novels of Konstantin Vaginov, a Soviet modernist writer active in the mid-1920s--early 1930s. The novels, startlingly ahead of their time in form, present a strange blend of the post-apocalyptic and darkly utopian, as their old-world intellectual protagonists clumsily navigate the crudely bright, breathtakingly unsubtle and ruthlessly optimistic new Soviet reality. The value of aesthetic knowledge and of the past more generally is painfully interrogated, leaving characters to resort to collecting highly symbolic, absurd pre-revolutionary fragments such as candy wrappers and tasteless kitsch.
The event will begin with a short reading, followed by Morse and Cebula discussing Vaginov in general, specifics of translating “their" respective novels (the first two and last two) and their process of collaboration. We’ll conclude by reading some more excerpts and fielding questions from the audience.
This Zoom panel in English will be recorded and shared on the Globus Books YouTube channel. There will be a limited amount of seats, a first-come, first-serve basis. If you are interested to attend the live panel please message Globus Books for details.