Sovereign Fiction: The Poetics and Politics of Russian Realism

Dr. Ilya Kliger outlines an approach to the study of “sociotopes” in narrative fiction and beyond. Defining sociotopes as specific configurations of sociality, presupposing and projecting diverse scenarios and normative principles of affiliation and detachment, Professor Kliger takes as his case study the emblematic and consequential moment in the history of the reception of Hegel’s philosophy in Russia: Belinsky's scandalous “reconciliation with actuality” (primirenie s deistvitel’nost’iu). About the Speaker: Ilya Kliger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University. He is currently working on a book project on the poetics and politics of Russian Realism.