contributors

Robert Chandler

Graduated with a BA in Russian and English Literature from Leeds University. His co-translations of Andrey Platonov have won prizes both in the UK and in the US. His translation of Hamid Ismailov’s The Railway won the AATSEEL prize for 2007 and received a special commendation from the judges of the 2007 Rossica Translation Prize. Recently he translated The Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman, to be published in July 2013.

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Articles by Robert Chandler

  1. The stuff of myth and the Baltic Sea

    Grass’s Flounder contributes to our work of locating, dislocating, and relocating literature in the Baltic Sea region by challenging us to give attention to the lost or hidden stories that are ignored or played off against each other in the official versions of history that would fix our position in space. While Grass counters the seduction of the big story — universal history — he also reveals himself by getting caught in the contradiction of his own storytelling.

  2. The apostles of Linnaeus of nature

    Linnaeus’s ideas and the acts of his apostles coincide with a general definition of economy as the doctrine of wise stewardship of scarce resources, which could be applied to both nature and human society. But beyond this, the philosophical, economic, and scientific thinking of Linnaeus and his contemporaries was historically distinguished by the belief that resources, as for example the number of species, could normally increase in one place simply by shrinking in another.

  3. Exhibition in Moscow Soviet Design 1950–1980

    Soviet Design 1950–1980 was shown for two busy winter months and enjoyed great public success. Even if Soviet design was often — but far from always — based on originals borrowed from the West, the individual objects exude a personal charm, variation, and quirkiness that makes them well worth preserving, exhibiting, and discussing.

  4. Tourism is endangering Albania’s cultural heritage

    In Albania, its cultural heritage is threatened by tourism. Fairytale castle are being converted to hotels with no respect for their history. Albanians politicians believe that they cannot afford to preserve the past for the future, says reporter Axel Kronblom.

  5. Memory Caches

    What was buried by Balts who were exiled to Siberia, before they were taken away? These finds are now being digged up as examples of modern archaeology. Helga Nõu remembers when, aged nine, she was told where a secret was buried and how she was sworn to never ever tell.

  6. “Historiography has been a minefield”

    Perspectives on the past are charged, not least in Romania. Vladimir Tismaneanu, former chair for the Scientific Council of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) is here interviewed about the links between history and politics in Romania.

  7. The World Seen Through Binoculars

    Anna Kharkina visits an exhibition about childhood and sees artifacts from the Romanian countryside. The exhibition opens doors to an individual and a shared past for those with common memories of childhood in a country that no longer exists.

  8. Vasily Grossman and Hrachya Kochar

    There is a great deal that we do not yet know about Vasily Grossman’s life. The widely held belief that Grossman lived out his last years in poverty and isolation is probably mistaken.

  9. Labor migration in the Baltic Sea Countries. “We need workers and they need work”

    The expert seminar "Labor migration in the Baltic Sea Countries: Trends and prospects" April 25, took a closer look at migration-related challenges. Export of labor and lose of younger people are worrying problems for the Baltic States, noted key-note speaker professor Charles Woolfson. Other problems mentioned on the seminar were the labor migrants’ vulnerable situation, and the growing amount of abandoned children.

  10. Armenian Presidental Election Unexpected change in the political landscape

    The impression is that the Armenian politicians are balancing the expectations of the Armenian public and the International Community. Both government and opposition have to show that they are responsible politicians that will not resort to violence and that are ready to accept defeat and continue constructive dialogue with their political opponents.

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