Haunted by the Soviet Past: Trauma in Contemporary Russian Literature (Interview with Lara Righi (University of Verona))

In this episode, we’re looking at the other side of the Iron Curtain: we’re talking about Soviet trauma in the form of undead creatures that haunt contemporary Russian literature, about Soviet Westerns, and the question whether the USSR was a colonial empire. Lara Righi, PhD candidate at the University of Verona, talks with us about post-memory, the relationship between Russia and Belarus, and Great Patriotic War aka World War II.00:00 – 10:17: Introduction10:18 – 24:18: Gothic themes in contemporary Russian literature24:19 – 29:54: Sasha Filipenko and Marija Stepanova29:55 – 41:11: The USSR – a colonial empire?41:12 – 54:12: Filipenko’s A Former Son54:13 – 1:06:25: Soviet Westerns01:06:26 – 01:09:21: Lara’s future projects