Culture Connection: Russian Culture at the Turn of the 20th Century

Fin de siècle Russia was a rich and explosive time for Russian culture. With the shift to the Soviet system, Russians adapted their cultural heritage to create a new cultural foundation. In this conversation we will discuss the many forms of Russian culture – from large festivals to puppet theater to literature — were used by Russians to push their society forward. Speaker: Thomas Seifrid Bio: Professor Seifrid studies twentieth-century Russian literature and culture, particularly that of the Soviet 1920s and 1930s; Russian philosophy of language of the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries; the life and works of Vladimir Nabokov; and Polish language and culture. His current research examines connections among ideology, literary genre (including theater), and urban space in early Soviet culture.