(Post-)Imperial Ukraine: Russian Literary Conceptions of Ukraine

To justify the invasion of Ukraine, Putin resorts to Russian stereotypical concepts of Ukraine that refuse this neighboring country any right to statehood and deny the very existence of a Ukrainian nation. Russian-language literature has contributed decisively to the emergence and dissemination of these concepts. As such, literary studies can provide insight into the genesis and the historical dimension of these Russian constructions of Ukraine. They also reveal how literary texts handle questions of identity or of borders flexibly, and how they can bring correctives to the imperialist viewpoint. On the basis of three case studies – from Aleksandr Pushkin via Ėduard Limonov to Joseph Brodsky – members of the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Fribourg will show how literary studies can contribute to a better understanding of the background of the war in Ukraine.

18:15 Jens Herlth: Introduction (en français)
18:30 Eliane Fitzé: Pushkin writes the Russian Empire: “Fragments of Onegin’s Journey” (1830) and the poetic-imperial appropriation of the Caucasus, Crimea, and Odessa (in English)
18:45 Christian Zehnder: „Charkiw gewidmet“. Die sowjetische inoffizielle Poesie und das Imperium (Konstantin Kuz′minskijs Dialog mit Ėduard Limonov) (auf deutsch)
19:00 Jens Herlth: Joseph Brodsky – « Sur l’indépendance de l’Ukraine » (en français)
19:15-19:45 Diskussion

The event is open to all persons interested.