Episode Details

Show Notes:

This week, Cameron dives back into the work of Leo Tolstoy to talk about one of his later works, Hadji Murat. He’s joined by podcast returnee Dr. Tatyana Gershkovich, whose book Art in Doubt analyzes Tolstoy and Vladimir Nakokov’s approaches to skepticism, to talk about the work, Tolstoy’s work What is Art?, and discuss how his approaches to “true” and “untrue” art affect the novel. 

Gershkovich is the William S. Dietrich II Associate Professor of Russian Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. She is the author of Art in Doubt: Tolstoy, Nabokov, and the Problem of Other Minds, published by Northwestern University Press. She’s also written essays published in PMLA, the Slavic and Eastern European Journal, the Journal of the History of Ideas, the Paris Review, and more.

Major themes: True and untrue art, aesthetic responsiveness, Perceptions of warfare

01:11 - Check out our episode on Leo Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata with Dr. Tatyana Gershkovich.

01:25 - Art in Doubt: Tolstoy, Nabokov, and the Problem of Other Minds by Dr. Tatyana Gershkovich

58:35 - Silhouettes of Russian Writers: Literary and Philosophical Essays by Yuli Aikhenvald

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

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