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2017 News

November

Political Confrontation in Russia: From Protests to Elections and Back

November 10, 2017
Professor Saul Morson's new book, co-authored by Northwestern president Morton Schapiro, has received rave reviews, including from The Washington Post. Cents and Sensibility explains that economists should read great literature and learn from the humanities, not just mathematics.

 

Read the full article here.

Nina Gourianova Co-organized Spring Symposium at Amherst

November 1, 2017

Professor Nina Gourianova co-organized an international symposium at Amherst College with Professor Catherine Ciepiella, celebrating the work of avant-garde writer and artist Elena Guro (1877-1913).  The event, hosted by the Amherst Center for Russian Culture April 21-22, 2017, featured an art exhibition curated by Professor Gourianova, titled "Songs of the City: Elena Guro and Artists of her Times."  The exhibit featured Guro's drawings, as well as works from the Mead’s Russian art collection by figures including such as Kazimir Malevich and Natalya Goncharova.  Elena Guro was the first in a group of women who became leading artists of the avant-garde in the pre-revolutionary period.  In addition to her art, Guro also wrote experimental stories, poems and plays, making her unique among those contributing to the European avant-garde.

October

Congratulations to Jessica Castellanos on her Adventures in Kazakhstan

October 1, 2017

Jessica in KZSlavic major Jessica Castellanos won a Boren Scholarship to study abroad this past year with the Russian Language and Area Studies Program in Almaty, Kazakhstan, at al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU).  She recently spent time in the capital, Astana, enjoying the sites and the opera, Evgeny Onegin. (She noted that President Nazarbayev also attended that performance and waved to the audience.)  Jessica had explored the possibility of staying in Astana to help as a translator for Expo 2017, an international conference focusing on renewable energy: https://expo2017astana.com/en/ 

Jessica is back at Northwestern now, resuming her studies in Slavic Languages and Literatures, Religious Studies and International Studies. 

Welcome back, Jessica!

August

Congratulations to Tony Topoleski on his article published in Literary Matters

August 1, 2017

Slavic graduate student Tony Topoleski has an article published in the most recent issue of Literary Matters.  Topoleski discusses Dog Star Notations and other poems by Håkan Sandell, one of Sweden’s preeminent poets.

July

Political Confrontation in Russia: From Protests to Elections and Back

July 19, 2017
Slavic Department Professor and Chair Clare Cavanagh received praise for her translation of Slight Exaggeration by Adam Zagajewski. The work, originally published in Polish in 2011, was reviewed in The New York Times, which describes it as "delightful to read straight through as it riffs, zags and circles."

Read the full article here.

June

Congratulations, Spring 2017 Graduates!

June 26, 2017

Congratulations to these outstanding 2017 graduates: Alex Kohanski (double major in Slavic and Theatre); Daniel Polotsky (double major in Slavic and Economics); Basia Gawin (Slavic minor with a major in Enviromental Sciences) and Drake Thomas (Russian and East European Studies minor with a double major in International Studies and Political Science)! We look forward to news from these and other alums in 2018.

May

Jordan Todes Article and Alex Kohanski's Translations Published in The Birch

May 1, 2017

Slavic minor Jordan Todes had an article published in the Fall 2016 issue of The Birch His article, in the Culture section, is titled, "As We Stare into the Void:  Absence, Truth, and Cinematographic Structure in Pawel Pawlikowski's IDA."

The Spring 2016 issue of The Birch featured two poems translated into English from Russian by Slavic and Theater major Alexander Kohanski.  Alex, who is one of our Student Advisory Board representatives, traveled to St. Petersburg in June 2016 to participate in ACTR's Russian Language and Area Studies Program (RLASP).  This summer program included classes in Intensive Russian Conversation and Intensive Russian Grammar, as well as cultural programs and excursions.  Alex plans to graduate Spring 2017. 

Congratulations, Jordan and Alex!

April

Students Enjoy Eugene Onegin at Lyric Opera

April 10, 2017

oneginMore than 20 graduate and undergraduate students from Slavic Languages and Literatures, as well as several faculty, headed to the Lyric Opera in March 2017 to see an outstanding performance of Eugene Onegin

The music was composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the libretto was based on a verse novel by Alexander Pushkin.  The first performance of Eugene Onegin was in Moscow in 1879.  Lead roles in this show at the Lyric were performed by Polish, Puerto-Rican, American and Russian singers, including Mariusz Kwiecien, Ana Maria Martinez, Charles Castronovo, Alisa Kolosova and Dmitry Belosselskiy.  Bravo!