Bøger af Catriona Kelly

Fragile, gritty, and vital to an extraordinary degree, St. Petersburg is one of the world's most alluring cities--a place in which the past is at once ubiquitous and inescapably controversial. Yet outsiders are far more familiar with the city's pre-1917 and Second World War history than with its recent past. In this beautifully illustrated and highly original book, Catriona Kelly shows how creative engagement with the past has always been fundamental to St. Petersburg's residents. Weaving together oral history, personal observation, literary and artistic texts, journalism, and archival materials, she traces the at times paradoxical feelings of anxiety and pride that were inspired by living in the city, both when it was socialist Leningrad, and now. Ranging from rubbish dumps to promenades, from the city's glamorous center to its grimy outskirts, this ambitious book offers a compelling and always unexpected panorama of an extraordinary and elusive place.

A conventional view of Russia represents it as a country where autocracy, centralised rule, and domination by the 'power vertical' both inside and outside the country are inescapable facts of the past and present. But Russia's variety is as important a feature of the place as its size, and over time, politics and culture have radically altered to accommodate historical cataclysms, as well as periods of calm. This collection of essays by Catriona Kelly examines a Russia that is 'out of focus', beyond the usual simplifying optic. It considers often overlooked areas of historical and contemporary experience such as the lives and creative culture of Russian women, of children and teenagers, and of ethnic minorities. An internationally known specialist in Russian culture acts as a guide to unexpected discoveries and unexplored territories at the margins of Empire and the fringes of Europe.Catriona Kelly is Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Soviet Culture at Trinity College and Honorary Professor of Russian and Soviet Culture in the University of Cambridge. She is also Emeritus Fellow in Russian at New College and an Honorary Faculty Research Fellow in Russian at the University of Oxford. She was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2007. She has published many books and articles on Russian history and culture, including A History of Russian Women's Writing (1994), Comrade Pavlik: the Rise and Fall of a Soviet Boy Hero (2005), Children's World: Growing Up in Russia, 1890-1991 (2008), St Petersburg, Shadows of the Past (2014), and Soviet Art House: Lenfilm Studio under Brezhnev (2021).

In Russia, legislation on the separation of church and state in early 1918 marginalized religious faith and raised pressing questions about what was to be done with church buildings. While associated with suspect beliefs, they were also regarded as structures with potential practical uses, and some were considered works of art. This engaging...

Petrushka, the Russian equivalent of Punch and Judy, was one of the most popular spectacles at fairgrounds and in city courtyards for over a century. Catriona Kelly's study, the first to appear in English, traces the history of Petrushka, illustrating how it reflected the tensions of Russian urban life both before and after the Revolution.

Fragile, gritty, and vital to an extraordinary degree, St. Petersburg is one of the world's most alluring cities-a place in which the past is at once ubiquitous and inescapably controversial. Yet outsiders are far more familiar with the city's pre-1917 and Second World War history than with its recent past. In this beautifully illustrated and highly original book, Catriona Kelly shows how creative engagement with the past has always been fundamental to St. Petersburg's residents. Weaving together oral history, personal observation, literary and artistic texts, journalism, and archival materials, she traces the at times paradoxical feelings of anxiety and pride that were inspired by living in the city, both when it was socialist Leningrad, and now. Ranging from rubbish dumps to promenades, from the city's glamorous center to its grimy outskirts, this ambitious book offers a compelling and always unexpected panorama of an extraordinary and elusive place.