May the horror and shame unite us. A statement by the editors of the Russian journal ‘New Literary Observer’
NB: Let us salute Russia's war resisters, who continue a glorious humanist tradition of international peace and solidarity. Let us never forget that the Russian Revolution that began on International Women's Day in 1917 was a mass anti-war protest of workers and soldiers, which hastened the end of the bloodletting of the Great War of 1914-1918. We need international solidarity, not national hatred. My fervent thanks to the editors of the Russian journal ‘New Literary Observer’. DS
In the face of immense tragedy, our thoughts are with all those suffering as a result of this war and this madness. We think of people from Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere, shocked and traumatized by what is happening – as we are ourselves. May the horror, pain and shame we feel help to unite us, and not cause further division. In moments of intense apprehension and fear, we may well be disinclined to read books, but it is vital actively to maintain channels of mutual support through social and professional networking.
The New
Literary Observer (Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie) has been
operating as a publishing house, and as a journal, since it was launched in
1992. These have been difficult years for Russia. The country has experienced
numerous social and political upheavals and, as a publisher, we have made every
effort to reflect on the processes we have witnessed. The issues posed by
post-Soviet cultural and historical anthropology, and post-Soviet identity,
remain acute: the values by which people brought up in post-Soviet states live
today, their standards, points of reference, motivations and ways of interacting
with the external environment are more starkly defined than ever.
What does it mean to
be part of a closed community which has inherited the totalitarian
predispositions of the past? Can the resulting closed borders be crossed? Is it
possible to step out of the confines of a given identity that offers no
apparent alternative? Can Russia prevail over its past, as other countries
which have experienced totalitarian regimes have succeeded in doing?
Over the last 30 years
we have sought to respond to questions such as these, and we continue to do so
now. The current situation presents us with new challenges. Should we go on
fighting for a different identity for Russia, and how? Can we devise a language
for public discourse on crimes committed by the state? What alternatives for
the development of our future as a nation-state can we suggest at this time? As
we explore cultural history, memory politics, the micro-histories of everyday
life, and post-Soviet anthropology, we will keep addressing all these questions
together with some of the finest authors writing in and outside Russia.
The New Literary
Observer is continuing
its work and preparing new issues of the journal, as well as new books, for
publication. We say ‘no’ to war!
https://www.eurozine.com/may-the-horror-and-shame-unite-us/
The Bolshevik Heritage. By Dilip Simeon
10 Theses on the Proliferation of Egocrats
(1977)
Ukraine:
India refuses to take a clear position on the Russian invasion
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Historian of
Decline and Prophet of Revival by Madhavan Palat
Jairus Banaji -
Revolution Destroyed
Love and Anarchy:
Emma Goldman's passion for free expression
Book Review:
Victor Serge; Memoirs of a Revolutionary
State memory: 1917 and Russian memory politics. By
MANFRED SAPPER and VOLKER WEICHSEL
The legacies of
1917 Orlando Figes & Daniel Gascon
Review essay - What’s Left? Sheila Fitzpatrick
reviews 5 new books on the Russian Revolution
Book review: - The Conscience of a Revolutionary
Alec Luhn - Gulag grave hunter unearths uncomfortable
truths in Russia
100 years of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution
March 8 (February 23), International Women's Day
Julien Benda: Our age is the age of the intellectual organization of political hatreds
José
Vergara’s “All Future Plunges to the Past: James Joyce in Russian Literature”
