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SUMMARY:Dostoevsky\, Sechenov and reflexes of the brain: to a stylistic ge
 nealogy of Notes from Underground - Dr Aleksei Vdovin (HSE\, Moscow)
DTSTART:20190226T170000Z
DTEND:20190226T183000Z
UID:TALK117250@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:53971
DESCRIPTION:It is customary to consider Dostoevsky's _Notes from Undergrou
 nd_ as the first text that anticipates his subsequent great novels in comb
 ining psychological\, ideological\, and philosophical features with narrat
 ive experimentation. While the genesis and content of the philosophical id
 eas espoused by the Underground Man have been studied extensively\, almost
  no research has been done on the connection of the novella with contempor
 aneous psychology and physiology. One may wonder whether there is a good r
 eason to study these matters. What could this approach tell us about the p
 oetics of Dostoevsky and the evolution of the novelistic form in nineteent
 h-century Russia? In his talk Dr Vdovin will juxtapose _Notes from Undergr
 ound_ with the most prominent Russian text on physiology produced at the b
 eginning of 1860s\, I. M. Sechenov’s _Reflexes of the Brain_ to explain 
 how Dostoevsky succeeded in creating not only an influential philosophical
  text\, but also an experimental narrative that expands the capacities of 
 psychological prose. \n\n*Alexey Vdovin* is Assistant Professor of Russian
  Literature and Deputy Dean for Research at the National Research Universi
 ty – Higher School of Economics (Faculty of Humanities\, Moscow). He is 
 the author of a biography of Nikolai Dobroliubov in famous series _Lives o
 f remarkable people_ (Moscow\, 2017)\, _Kontsept glava literatury v russko
 i kritike 1830–1860_ (Tartu\, 2011) and co-editor of _Khrestomatiinye te
 ksty: Russkaia pedagogicheskaia praktika i literaturnyi kanon XIX veka_ (T
 artu\, 2013). His fields of expertise are the history of Russian literatur
 e and culture in the Age of Realism\, Russian literary criticism and aesth
 etics\, and the history of concepts.
LOCATION:Latimer Room\, Clare College
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