Don’t Be a Stranger: Russian Literature and the Perils of Not Fitting In

Jason Galie

Published by Academic Studies Press 2022

Don’t Be a Stranger

Russian Literature and the Perils of Not Fitting In

Jason Galie

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781644697733

Overview
Contents

About this book

This study explores the consequences of being marked an outsider in the Russian-speaking world through a close study of several seminal works of Russian literature. The author combines the fields of literary studies, linguistics, and sociology to interpret these works for both the specialist and the general reader.

Author / Editor information

Galie Jason :

Jason Galie is a Russian language analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton and has taught Russian at Columbia University, Middlebury College, the Defense Language Institute, and The George Washington. He lives in Washington, DC.

Jason Galie is a Russian language analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton and has taught Russian at Columbia University, Middlebury College, the Defense Language Institute, and The George Washington University. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

“Don’t be a Stranger is an important and extremely relevant contribution to Russian literary studies. While the book focuses on two literary works, Galie also reflects on the relevance of ‘свой-чужой’ to contemporary Russian society more broadly, and on the ways in which leading figures of the Putin regime and media have utilized their pejorative associations. Indeed, scholars of ethnicity, gender and sexuality studies in Russia will find this book particularly useful and stimulating in the broad discussion surrounding identity and belonging in Putin’s Russia.”

— Thomas Reid, University of St. Andrews, Forum For Modern Language Studies

“This rich book examines one of the defining characteristics of Russian culture: its tendency to categorize people into those who belong and those who do not, as expressed in the well-known opposition 'svoi/chuzhoi' (typically translated as 'one’s own' vs. 'alien'). Drawing on sociological, semiotic, and linguistic research, as well as literary texts and memoir literature, Don’t Be a Stranger places this opposition in a variety of social and literary contexts, from Moscow nobility culture of the early nineteenth century to the troubled world of Dostoevsky’s The Demons and to divisive

political rhetoric in contemporary Russia. Ultimately, this study offers a fresh and nuanced discussion of 'svoi/chuzhoi' as not merely a linguistic or even a cultural binary, but primarily as a symptom of anxiety in the face of a shifting social order, a tool of cultural cohesion but also an indicator of social change.”

—Valeria Sobol, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Note on Transliteration Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: Fitting in Russian Style Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter One. The Crux of the Svoj/Chuzhoj Opposition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Chapter Two. Making Svoj/Chuzhoj Divisive in Aleksandr Griboedov’s “Woe from Wit” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Chapter Three. “Woe from Wit” as Social Gospel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Chapter Four. The Demons are Social Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
In Place of a Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145

Language: English
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 162
Keywords: Stranger; Outsider; Fitting In; Dostoevsky; Griboedov; Demons; Woe from Wit; Groups; Society; Russia

eBook

Published: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 9781644697733