Pushkin House invites you to a discussion about how the past can be understood in the context of the war in Ukraine and what anti-imperial futures can be imagined. Author Boris Akunin and journalist and writer Viv Groskop will join the director of Pushkin House, Elena Sudakova, to assess if there is hope in the form of anti-war movements; how cultural workers can respond to the hideous crimes committed in their name; and how Russians have to change in order to put an end to the war and prevent this from ever happening again.
When Russian tanks invaded Ukraine and besieged Ukrainian cities on 24 February 2022, Russia’s continued imperial mentality became an unavoidable and deeply necessary topic. How should we now think and talk about Russian culture and its past, present and future, while the Russian state is waging war in Ukraine?
That Russia is an imperial power is not a novel concept: artists, writers and academics have often reflected on Russian colonialist politics and Russian culture’s expansive ambitions. It is hard to envision what will come next in terms of Russia’s culture and national identity, and how it can be different from the imperialist past.
The idea of a 'great Russian culture' is arguably no longer viable. The focus is turning to those who actively oppose the war and contribute to its anti-imperial future. Is there any positive energy in this direction in Russian history? How can artists and public thinkers nurture humanist values? Has culture failed to prevent the rise of the far-right totalitarianism we now see in the Russian authorities and their supporters?
This event is organised as part of Pushkin Book Weeks – a series of events dedicated to Russian culture and its translation as well as to wider literary and cultural debate and learning.
Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili, who was born in Georgia in 1956. An essayist, historian, playwright and translator, he has consistently spoken out against the war and the Russian regime. He is best known as the author of crime and historical fiction and has been compared to Gogol, Tolstoy and Arthur Conan Doyle. His books featuring the 19th-century detective Erast Fandorin have sold over 18 million copies in Russia alone and include The Winter Queen, The Turkish Gambit, and Murder on the Leviathan. He lives in London.
Viv Groskop is a writer, comedian and podcaster. She is the author of The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature (Penguin), a bestseller in Russian translation under the title Саморазвитие по Толстому (Individuum Books). She has a First in Russian and French from Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, and a Masters with Distinction in Russian Studies from the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, University College London. She was Contributing Editor at Russian Vogue from 2001 to 2011. A fluent Russian speaker, she has lived in Moscow and St Petersburg and travelled extensively in Ukraine. She is currently devoted to improving her Ukrainian.