Literatura: The cultural emergence of modern Ukraine
Date and time:
Thursday 10 June, 2021
18:30 - 20:00
Location:
Through laughter and through tears: the cultural emergence of modern Ukraine.
Ukraine is the largest country within the European continent, situated at a geopolitical crossroads and bound together not by one language, or one church, or one ethnicity, or even one historical inheritance. It is united by an idea. At its core, this idea is of freedom borne out of irreverent resistance to imperial chauvinism. In this seminar, we will explore the work of two artists whose poetry gives voice to this idea in very different ways, setting out diverse trajectories for modern Ukrainian culture in the nineteenth century. Their seminal work entertains as much as it inspires: Ivan Kotliarevs’kyi (1769-1838) lampoons the posture of state authority through comedic travesty, while Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) moves between biting satire and mournful elegy to condemn the greed and hubris of imperial elites who preside over a system of oppression – including his fellow Ukrainians.
You can either sign up to this seminar as a one-off via eventbrite, or enrol in the full Literatura course - full info here.
If you are a friend or benefactor of the Institute, you are entitled to a discount for the course. Please email us on [email protected] to claim your discount and pay directly.
Included in the cost of the seminar:
- course handbook and materials, including English translations of texts studied as part of the seminar.
- access to video recording of the presentation by Dr Finnin.
Lecturer
Dr Rory Finnin
Dr Rory Finnin is University Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. He is the Founding Director of Cambridge Ukrainian Studies (2008-2018); former Head of the Department of Slavonic Studies (2014-18); and former Chair of the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies (CamCREES) (2011-18). Finnin received his PhD (with distinction) in Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine 1995-97) and a native of Cleveland, Ohio. Finnin is also convener (with Sander van der Linden in Social Psychology) of the University's Disinformation and Media Literacy Special Interest Group, a community of scholars and practitioners committed to advancing creative interventions against disinformation and ‘fake news’.
