Maria Rubins, at The Blogs

Maria Rubins

Apr 21, 2022, 1:37 PM

A Cult in the Making: Joseph Brodsky in Petersburg (Part II)

In a previous blog I shared my impressions of the “Room and a Half” museum organized in Joseph Brodsky’s former living quarters in Saint Petersburg. For lack of material exhibits, the museum capitalizes on emptiness, inviting visitors to take...

Mar 10, 2022, 7:28 AM

The Price of Conformism: Do all Russians deserve the sanctions?

Оne of the powerful moments of the High Holidays liturgy is the vidui prayer, when all the Jews in the congregation, rhythmically beating themselves on the chest, ask forgiveness for terrible crimes most have never personally committed: “We’ve betrayed,...

Jan 26, 2022, 5:04 AM

Evgeny Kissin: Israeli Pianist and Yiddish Poet

With the pandemic still dragging on and the prospects bleak for a return to normal, any cultural event in Paris is perceived as a gift from heaven. Especially events of such magnitude as the solo concert of the pianist...

Jan 18, 2022, 10:19 PM

A Cult in the Making: Joseph Brodsky in Petersburg

Joseph Brodsky, the 1987 Nobel Prize winner, was kicked out of the USSR in 1972 on an Israeli visa contrived by the Soviet authorities – refusal to emigrate would have resulted in compulsory psychiatric “treatment.” Before his rushed departure,...

About Me

Maria Rubins is a Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature at University College London. Born and raised in Russia, she studied at Saint Petersburg State University. Later she moved to the USA, where she received her Ph.D. from Brown University. Her books include Crossroad of Arts, Crossroad of Cultures; Russian Montparnasse; and Redefining Russian Literary Diaspora, 1920-2020. She has translated into Russian novels of Elizabeth Gaskell, Judith Gauthier, Irène Némirovsky and Arnaud Delalande and contributed to various media outlets, including BBC, Radio Liberty, NTV, Voice of Russia, Los Angeles Review of Books, Mosaic, The New Review, and Zvezda.

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