Schedule
10:00. Conference Opening, Coffee & Tea & Donuts10:10–10:40. Thesis Presentation
Olivia Route, “Russian Intervention in Post-Soviet Ethnic Conflict”
10:40-11:50. Of Poetry, Hope, and Suffering
Hanna Kereszturi, “Time, Space, and the Consciousness in the World of Joseph Brodsky”
Laura Christians, “Strange Loner and Tormented Soul: Lermontov Revealed in «Выхожу один я на дорогу» (“Alone I Set Out on the Road”)”
Claire Jenets, “I Suffer, Therefore I Live”
12:00–12:50 Keynote Lecture
Pavel Khazanov, “Learning to Have the Courage of Ceaseless Happiness”: High Stalinism, Thermidor, and Andrei Platonov’s Happy Moscow”
This paper aims to develop a better understanding of Andrei Platonov’s mature view of Soviet socialism by considering his unfinished novel, Happy Moscow (1931-1936) in the context of Mikhail Lifshits’ and Georg Lukács’ philosophical movement of the 1930s, known as the Current. In light of the Current’s conceptualization of Stalinism as a peculiar form of Thermidor that did not spell an unequivocal end to the Russian Revolution, I argue that Platonov’s Happy Moscow articulates an enduring commitment to Soviet socialism and its utopian possibilities.
12:50–1:40. Lunch Break (Lebanese Bazaar Style)
1:40–2:50. Dostoevsky and Beyond
Adam Zachar, “Liza and Svidrigaylov: Suicide as Escape from the Self” Melissa Beswick, “The Irrationality of Morality in The Brothers Karamazov: Using Evolutionary Psychology to Illuminate Ivan's Internal Struggles” Alex Droznin-Izrael, “Dostoevsky’s Gospel: The Function of Biblical Quotation in The Brothers Karamazov”
2:50 – 3:00. Coffee Break and Refreshments
3:00–4:00. Inspired Russian Pens
Watch Chernyshevsky, Gogol and Bakunin’s ideas being discussed in a light-hearted manner and discover their thoughts on Russia.
David Sweigart, “In the Shadow of Gogol’s Devil”
Jonah Rosen, “Chernyshevsky: Lessons for Moral Living”
Ninad Singh, “Awakening from Bakunin’s Dream”
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