Pushkin House Podcast

What is a banya? What do Russians do when they go to the steam-room, and what are those conical hats they’re wearing? Madeleine Cuckson speaks to Banya No. 1 founder Andrei Fomin to answer all the questions you might have had about the traditions and future of the Russian bathhouse. This episode was presented and recorded for Pushkin House by Madeleine Cuckson. The series producer was Rafy Hay. Our thanks to Andrei Fomin and everyone at Banya No. 1

Ada Wordsworth speaks to Maria Kuznetsova, Alina Z, and Alina D, three young Muscovites who took part in protests this week against Alexei Navalny’s recent incarceration. They describe the reasons for their support of Navalny - even in the face of political disagreements with him - as well as the reaction of their friends and family, and the possible outcomes of the protest. This episode was presented and edited for Pushkin House by Ada Wordsworth, and produced by Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf. The series producer was Rafy Hay.

Ada Wordsworth speaks to Alexander and Suzy, two young Russians. They recount their experiences of coming out to family, friends and colleagues; describe the differences in Russia between the ways gay men and lesbians are treated; and tell us about their hopes and expectations for the future of LGBT+ rights and opportunities in Russia. This episode was presented and edited for Pushkin House by Ada Wordsworth, and produced by Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf. The series producer was Rafy Hay. Our thanks to Alexander Ankudinov and Suzy for participating. Contains some strong language.

How has the Russian state evolved since the fall of the USSR, and is there a way to oppose it? Sergei Medvedev is the winner, with his book The Return of the Russian Leviathan, of the 2020 Pushkin House Book Prize. Here, he speaks to Andrew Jack, journalist with the Financial Times and chair of the advisory committee of the Book Prize, about the current state of the Russian State. Medvedev recently lost his job at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow due to his outspoken critique of Putin’s regime, but he describes how he won’t follow the example of other critics in leaving Russia.

Young Pushkin volunteer Ada Wordsworth spoke remotely to three participants in the 'Fridays for Future' strikes, who are on the frontline of climate activism in Russia: Arshak Makichyan in Moscow, Dasha Khamaza in St Petersburg, and Daria Anufrieva in Irkutsk. They describe the challenges and successes they've had in pressuring their local and national governments to respond to the gathering storm of climate change, and swimming against a current of apathy and scepticism from the rest of society. Presented and edited by Ada Wordsworth, and produced by Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf. Series produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

In the latest of our archive recordings to be unearthed, we have here a 1969 lecture from the not-yet-29-year-old John Innes Stuart (1940-2003) - a renowned expert on Russian icons and historian of British biker culture. A remarkable character, Johnny was born in Aberdeen, educated at Eton, and was working as a porter at Sotheby’s auctioneers when his extensive knowledge of Russian icons was found to be greater than any of their experts. A convert at the age of 18 to Russian Orthodoxy, he went on to establish the Russian department at Sotheby’s in 1976, as well as his own consultancy with Ivan Samarine in 1995. Originally titled ‘Some aspects of collecting, restoring and studying icons, 1830-1917’, this lecture gives an extensive history of the study and appreciation of Russian icons - from their creation and then literal concealment (by soot and the ornate silver okladki that covered them), to their appraisal as objects of academic interest, and of art in their own right. This episode was recorded on 9th May, 1969 at Pushkin House in Ladbroke Grove. The recording was catalogued and digitised by Anastasia Koro and Andrey Levitskiy, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay.

Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (1809-1852) is one of the most important figures of Russian literature, initiating a prose tradition that influenced everyone who came after him. In this lecture from the Pushkin House salon at its old home in Ladbroke Grove, preeminent writer and critic Victor Erlich elucidates with characteristic wit and incision the elements of Gogol’s metaphors and plots which draw on the grotesque. In these surreal and bizarre images, Gogol reveals truths about our world and our selves which are always strikingly compelling. This talk and discussion was recorded at some point between 1963 and 1968 — we know this to be the case as Erlich is mentioned as chair of the Yale department of Slavic languages and literature, a post he held between those dates — and likely near the end of that period, as his book Gogol (1969) is mentioned as upcoming. Erlich speaks about all of Gogol’s main works, including the Ukrainian Tales, the Petersburg Tales — Nevsky Prospect, The Nose and The Overcoat, Taras Bulba, Diary of a Madman, and his final controversial masterpiece, Dead Souls. This episode was catalogued and digitised by Anastasia Koro and Andrey Levitskiy, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay. Listen here on the Pushkin House website, on Apple podcasts, or via Acast.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (1914-2003), a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain, was one of the most important figures in the Russian Orthodoxy of his day. His many admirers attest that he combined a philosophical understanding of Christianity with high intelligence and personal charm. He became widely known to English speaking audiences for his BBC radio and TV broadcasts, exploring the intellectual and spiritual roots of Christianity. In this talk, recorded in 1961 and recently discovered in the vaults of Pushkin House, Metropolitan Anthony shares insights on Russian faith and spirituality and challenges the assumption that it is rooted in paganism.

Benjamin Leigh Smith, born in 1828, was the polymath illegitimate son of an MP. Born into a radical family, by various twists and turns of fate he ended up as an explorer of the frozen north. His fifth expedition ended in the wreck of his ship, Eira, and ten months of gruelling survival in the arctic, before a daring escape via makeshift longboat. The only tragedy is that this story of ingenuity and resolve isn’t better known.

Speaking via Zoom from her home in Massachusetts, food writer and Russianist Darra Goldstein discusses the process and peculiarities of writing a book on Russian cuisine. 'Beyond the North Wind' focuses on the food of the far north - the Kola Peninsula and the Solovetsky Islands - a land the ancient Greeks called Hyperborea. In conversation with Clem Cecil, Darra talks about how the hardy conditions in the north form the perfect crucible for a healthy, delicious cuisine. Check out her recipe for raspberry kvass, as mentioned in the podcast, at pushkinhouse.org.

By popular demand, Pushkin House presents a recording of our event from 15th January 2020. Acclaimed translators Robert Chandler and Boris Dralyuk discuss the best English versions of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol and others, with guest appearances from Antony Wood and Nicolas Pasternak Slater.

Tolstoy's characters seem to come alive so much, George Steiner argues, because they have their own internal lives, hidden even from the author. Of course, it was the author who made it so, but Tolstoy's treatment of his characters as autonomous individuals may not have been an entirely conscious decision... As part of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the founding of Pushkin House, Dr Steiner of Cambridge gave this lecture, originally entitled 'Tolstoy and the Human Person', at the Pushkin Club in Ladbroke Grove, on 24th January, 1964. Steiner, who died in February, was the author of numerous works on linguistics and comparative literature, and was hugely respected as a cultural critic and essayist.

Under Stalin, poet and journalist Varlam Shalamov faced fifteen years of brutal enforced labor in the gold and coal mines of Kolyma. These years formed the basis of his life’s work, Kolyma Tales, a monumental collection of short stories that took him nearly twenty years to complete. Donald Rayfield speaks about his new translation, in conversation with Pushkin House's Rafy Hay.

More than melting ice. How should we understand the Russian Arctic? Elena Zaytseva talks with artist Ruth Maclennan about her exhibition exploring the Russian Arctic, as a place to live in, to travel through, to project onto, to control and exploit for its natural resources, in the context of the climate emergency.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? We took to the streets of Bloomsbury to figure out what the public sees. An outdoor projection animates the exterior wall of Pushkin House on Bloomsbury Square on the opening night of Icebreaker Dreaming, a new solo exhibition by the artist Ruth Maclennan. Borimir Totev took to the streets of Bloomsbury Square for a social experiment.

What would you ask Gorbachev if you ended up in the same room? Borimir Totev talks with British documentary film-maker and anthropologist, André Singer, about his film ‘Meeting Gorbachev’. Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union, sat down to discuss the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.

Why did the Soviets turn against religion? Borimir Totev talks with Roland Elliott Brown, author of ‘Godless Utopia: Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda’, about the USSR’s war against religion of all denominations. Drawing on the early Soviet atheist magazines Godless and Godless at the Machine, and post-war posters by Communist Party publishers, Roland presents an unsettling tour of atheist ideology in the USSR.

An audio guide to the 'In Paradise’ exhibition by Margarita Gluzberg. Borimir Totev follows artist Margarita Gluzberg, as she navigates the Zone of her Stalker inspired exhibition.

What are the Vory? A history of Russia’s super mafia from its Stalin era heydays to the late Soviet period. Borimir Totev talks with Mark Galeotti, author of The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia, about Russia’s super mafia.

How do we explain the influx of Western culture to the Soviet Union? Clem Cecil talks with Eleonory Gilburd, author of ‘To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture’. The Soviet Union was a notoriously closed society until Stalin's death in 1953. Then, in the mid-1950s, a torrent of Western novels, films, and paintings invaded Soviet streets and homes, acquiring heightened emotional significance.

1983 holds an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, of intelligence failures, misunderstandings and the panic of world leaders. Borimir Totev talks with Taylor Downing, author of ‘1983: The World at the Brink’ about what contemporary leaders can learn from the past and how we choose to remember fear.

The blast that put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, contaminating over half of Europe with radioactive fallout. Andrew Jack talks with Pushkin House Book Prize 2019 winning author, Serhii Plokhy, about his book ‘Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy’. Serhii explores how the authorities scrambled to understand what was occurring, while workers, engineers, firefighters and those living in the area were abandoned to their fate.

An audio guide to the 'Mother Tongue’ exhibition by Yevgeniy Fiks. Borimir Totev follows New York-based Russian artist Yevgeniy Fiks, as he explores the historical gay Russian argot. This coded language dates back to Soviet times. We reclaim and celebrate Soviet-era Russian gay argot as a unique cultural phenomenon and give a historical context to today’s post-Soviet LGBT+ community, whose language partially evolved from it.

When an old cassette tape has the power to change your whole future. Borimir Totev talks with artist Laura Footes, who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of 13 and told by doctors it was unlikely that she would ever be able to travel or be in regular employment. Mikhail Bulgakov’s ‘The Master and Margarita’ provided an alternative fantasy world and was formative for Laura as she lay in her hospital bed.

Don't be so quick to blame King George V. There's more to the Romanovs story. Borimir Totev talks with Helen Rappaport, author of 'The Race to Save the Romanovs: the Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family', about the Romanov family, the assumptions, and the important anniversaries.

How to transform from an oligarch into bourgeoisie in Putin's Russia? Borimir Totev talks with Elisabeth Schimpfossl, author of 'Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie'. We figure out how Russia's former robber barons transformed into a new social class.

What were you doing whilst the Soviets secretly mapped the world? After the collapse of the Soviet Union an astonishing treasure trove came to light. Borimir Totev talks with life-long map collector and co-author of 'The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World', John Davies about the hundreds of thousands of Soviets maps showing in chilling detail countries and cities throughout the world.

An audio guide to the 'Amateur Bird Watching at Passport Control' exhibition by Alina Bliumis. Borimir Totev follows Belarus-born, New-York based artist Alina Bliumis around Pushkin House, while exploring her work built around a paradox that birds, the ultimate symbol of freedom, are used on documents controlling international movement.

872 days that cost of almost a million lives make the siege of Leningrad one of the longest and deadliest in modern history. Clem Cecil talks with Pushkin House Book Prize 2018 winning author, Alexis Peri, about her book ‘The War Within: Diaries From the Siege of Leningrad’. Alexis shares the tragic story of how citizens struggled to make sense of a world collapsing around them. We explore how residents recorded in intimate detail the toll taken on minds and bodies by starvation, bombardment, and disease. For many, diary writing became instrumental to survival.

Get ready to take a leaf out of Viv Groskop’s life book. Borimir Totev talks (and plays a game) with Viv Groskop, author of 'The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature', who offers us a number of life fixes for some of the most common and absurd scenarios. Viv has discovered the meaning of life in Russian literature. As she knows from personal experience, everything that has ever happened in life has already happened in these novels: from not being sure what to do with your life (Anna Karenina) to being in love with someone who doesn't love you back enough (A Month in the Country by Turgenev) or being socially anxious about your appearance (all of Chekhov's work).

Help! It's Eurovision and we need a doctor. Borimir Totev talks with Paul Jordan, a.k.a Dr. Eurovision, about the trends and concepts surrounding the contest. We explore the role the Eurovision Song Contest plays in terms of nation building and its wider implications concerning minority rights, freedom of expression and national identity.

An audio guide to the 'On the Eve' exhibition by Victoria Lomasko. Borimir Totev follows Victoria’s metaphor of a snowy landscape, that muffles and hinders ideas and movements., exploring the meaning behind the murals in the main room of Pushkin House.

How different are the ordinary lives we take for granted when lived in Russia? Borimir Totev talks with artist and activist Victoria Lomasko who travels through the former Soviet Union to chronicle the daily lives of ordinary people rarely represented in the media. We touch on her work with marginal grassroots groups like striking truck drivers, humble housewives, protesting Muscovites, invisible and voiceless slaves of the metropolitan bourgeoisie, and the LGBT+ community.

Are we living in an Animal Farm like Orwellian present? Borimir Totev talks with ex-BBC Russian Service features editor Masha Karp about her new George Orwell biography and the parallels we can draw to our contemporary reality.

What is it like to live in the most polluted city in Russia? Borimir Totev talks with curator Anya Stonelake about the Russian city of Norilsk. The city’s collective memory includes traumas that are inscribed into its expansive housing blocks, infinite mines, quarries, and factories, and a permafrost extending towards the horizon in every direction.

Unearthing stories of the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Borimir Totev talks with Niall Hobhouse from Drawing Matter, Economist writer, Tim Abrahams, and Pushkin House Director, Clem Cecil, about architectural visualisations, realities on the ground, and a few of President Trump's tweets.

Restoring your own grandfather's building. What can we learn from the legacy of the Narkomfin building in Moscow? Clem Cecil talks with the building's chief restoration architect Alexei Ginzburg about Narkomfin, the building designed by his grandfather Moisei Ginzburg, one of the leading members of the Constructivist group. Alexei and his wife Natasha recently published in facsimile, the English translations of Moisei's books about architecture: 'Rhythm in Architecture' and 'Dwelling'.

Understanding the art of deejaying cats and vegetable puppetry. Borimir Totev talks with artist Ariadne Arendt. Ariadne moved to London from Moscow when she was 4 years old. We explore her personal experience of growing up between cultures and establishing her own sense of belonging. Her creative projects span from her gangster Russian cat deejay alter-ego to a fictional artistic movement dedicated exclusively to sandwiches, and a travelling vegetable puppet show, offering classic literature spin-offs like Anna Karrotenina, Crime and Radishment, and Eugene Onionegin.

How do women today relate to and build cultural bridges with Russia? Borimir Totev talks with three leading women about the ways in which they relate to Russia. Our conversation with Natasha Butterwick explores her tenure as owner of the online platform Russian Art and Culture. We discuss the role of women in pre-revolutionary and contemporary Russian cinema with Dr. Rachel Morley from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, author of the book 'Performing Femininity: Woman as Performer in Russian Cinema'. Finally, we are taken on a journey to the snow covered streets of Moscow with the BAFTA award winning film and television director Margy Kinmonth, director of 'Revolution: New Art for a New World'.

Before she died in 1969, Margaret Watkins left a sealed trunk for her new neighbours. Little did they know what they were about to inherit. Borimir Totev talks with Joe Mulholland, proprietor of the Hidden Lane Gallery in Glasgow, who has championed the Margaret Watkins archive since discovering it some years after her death. Joe takes us on an exclusive walk through the classic images on display at Pushkin House, as part of the Margaret Watkins exhibition. We dive into the extraordinary story of this woman's life, work, and visit to post-revolutionary Russia.