Special Book Review – June 2022

CEFRES Book Review

For this special edition of the CEFRES Book Review, we will meet Luba Jurgenson, professor of Russian literature at Sorbonne University, director of Eur’ORBEM, translator, author of fiction, essayist and editor-in-chief of various book series, and we will discuss her latest book.

When: Tuesday, June 28th, at 3:30 p.m.
Where: CEFRES Library, Na Florenci 3, Prague (link to online meeting on request – cefres@cefres.cz)
Language: French

Luba Jurgenson is a specialist on the literature of testimony regarding Nazi concentration and Soviet labour camps, as well as on the memory and representation of violence in Central and Eastern Europe in general. In her latest work (Le semeur d’yeux. Sentiers de Varlam Chalamov, published by Verdier in 2022), she leads a reflection on the literature in face of extreme violence and memory, and, at the same time, she reflects on the fragmentations, detours and silences which are their result.

We will also talk about her translation work, especially of the Gulag literature, as well as of fiction. Both these literary genres are on the basis of the collection she directs with Anne Coldefy-Faucard at Verdier editions, publisher of Récits de la Kolyma by Varlam Chalamov, which occupies a privileged place in the French landscape for its work in making foreign literature more available.

Click here to see her complete CV.

Presented books:
  • Charles Stepanoff: L’animal et la mort. Chasse modernité et crise du sauvage (published by La Découverte in 2021) by Hana Fořtová (FLÚ AV ČR)
  • Karol Modzelewski: Nous avons fait galoper l’histoire. Confession d’un cavalier fatigué (published by Maison des sciences de l’homme in 2018) by Florence Vychytil-Baudoux (EHESS, Paris)
  • Luba Jurgenson: Le semeur d’yeux. Sentiers de Varlam Chalamov (published by Verdier in 2022) by the author herself

This Book Review will be followed by the CEFRES end-of-year reception to which you are cordially invited.