Shattered Icons: The Demise of the Hero in America and Russia May 29, 2012

Can heroes survive in our world of dubious celebrities, in a cynical, everyday world with at least two sides to every flawed argument and a debunking for every icon? The demise of the Hero is as poignant for Russia as for America; in fact, Russians may feel the loss still more acutely than we do. How are Russia’s heroes, and the loss of those heroes, surprisingly similar and surprisingly different from the contemporary American experience? Meet three exciting new writers as they open a door for us into the psyche of today’s young Russia. Moderating will be Jenny Lyn Bader, renowned playwright and author of a celebrated essay on the problem of heroism in the contemporary context.

FEATURING:

Yaroslava Pulinovich Still only 24, the native Siberian is already one of Russian’s most prominent young playwrights, author of eleven plays and two screenplays. Her father was a journalist and, in search of work in the chaotic 1990s, the family trekked from city to city in the frozen north, in the taiga and the tundra, sometimes beyond the Arctic circle. With dreams of stage and screen, she sought admission to the Theater Institute in Ekaterinburg, but became a playwright instead. While she was still in her third year, her plays began to be staged in professional theaters. Much of Pulinovich’s work has focused on provincial subcultures and underclasses in today’s Russia, but more recent works have included an intriguingly folkloric play with an ironic adult voice and a well-orchestrated work that spans the past century of Russian history…

Irina Bogatyreva The author of four novels and numerous stories and articles, Irina is a graduate of the prestigious Literary Institute in Moscow. She has been honored by numerous literary awards. Bogatyreva writes on the most important issues for Russia’s younger generation, including the freedoms offered by Russia’s vibrant youth hitchhiking subculture, cults and the esoteric spirituality they appear to teach, and the magical appeal of Siberian unspoiled wilderness and the ancient civilizations that lived there. Her characters search for a sense of freedom, individual self-realization, and, yes, the possibility of heroism as they make their way in a Russia entirely unlike the country of their parents and grandparents.

Polina Klyukina A graduate of the State Institute of Art and Culture in Perm, in the Ural mountain region, Polina specialized in theatrical direction. Then she moved to Moscow, where she simultaneously studied journalism at Moscow’s Publishing University and writing at the prestigious Moscow Literary Institute. She currently works at the newspaper Rossiiskaya gazeta. Her stories have appeared in Russia’s most distinguished literary periodicals, including Novy Mir. She traces her literary genealogy to Nabokov, Bunin, and the controversial contemporary writer Zakhar Prilepin (among others). Klyukina’s stories cast light on a dark side of life in the new Russia that would otherwise remain unknown to many readers, especially in the West.

The evening will be moderated by Jenny Lyn Bader, author of “Larger than Life,” a widely anthologized article on the fate of the hero in contemporary American culture. Ms. Bader is a distinguished New York playwright and essayist. She is the author of Mona Lisa Speaks, In Flight, None of the Above (which former Outer Critics Circle President Marjorie Gunner called “easily the best play of the season”) and Manhattan Casanova. She is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times. Currently, she is Director of Artistic Development and Writer in Residence at Theatre 167.

Official Website: http://www.debutprize.com/ai1ec_event/shattered-icons-the-demise-of-the-hero-in-america-and-russia/?instance_id=169