International conference “Rewriting European Literatures in Stalin’s Russia: Defence of European Culture or Mediation of the Regime’s Ideology?”
15–17 October 2025
University of Bologna, Forlì campus; University of Siena, Arezzo campus; Roma Tre University
Papers presented:
Ilaria Aletto, Maria Zavyalova, The Reception of English Writers in Stalinist Russia: On the Self/Other Opposition in Soviet Paratexts
Svetlana Slavkova, Changes in the language of ideological discourse in the thirties (on the material of the journals “Literature of the World Revolution” and “International Literature”)
Kristina Landa, Between Neothomism, Marxism and the Magic of the
Renaissance: Italian and Soviet Paratexts to Tommaso Campanella in the 1920s–1940s
Alessandra Carbone, A Soviet Flaubert: the Paratexts of “Sentimental Education”in Its Russian Translations (1933-1947)
International Seminar “Translation and Ideology in the Culture of the Stalin Era”
22 September 2025
Roma Tre University
Invited speakers:
Brian James Baer (Keynote),From Techne to Device: The Role of Translation in Internationalist Aesthetics
Olga Sobolev, Our Bernard Shaw: the Reception of Shaw in Stalin’s Russia
Aleksey Semenenko, “Soviet Shakespeare” and the problems of ideology vs. practice of translation in the 1930s
Round table with all participants, Ilaria Aletto, Maria Zavyalova, Kristina Landa and Alessandra Carbone.
NASS Tallinn/ Lotman Days 2025 – The 14th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies along with the 15th Annual Lotman Days “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence”
11–13 June 2025
Tallinn University (Estonia)
Papers presented:
Alessandra Carbone, On “Attenuating Events”. Marcel Proust in the Paratexts of N. Rykova, 1936-1939).
Ilaria Aletto, The Hypercomplexity of Borders: Paratexts to Translations of Herbert Wells in the USSR in the 1930s
Kristina Landa, Catholic Concepts in Alessandro Manzoni’s Novel “I promessi sposi” in Soviet and Italian Paratexts of the 1930s
Link: https://nordicsemiotics.org/nass-tallinn-2025/
International Conference “Granaslavic – 6th International Conference”
2–4 June 2025
University of Granada (Spain)
Paper presented:
Svetlana Slavkova, Linguistic Features of Ideological Discourse in the Early 1930s in the USSR (Based on Material from the Journals “Literature of the World Revolution” and “International Literature”)
Link: https://www.granaslavic2025.com/program
Seminar “Eros and Stalin. The Theme of Eroticism in the Paratexts of the Russian Translations of Vita Nuova and Les Liaisons dangereuses between the 1930s and 1950s”
19 May 2025
University of Salerno
Papers presented:
Alessandra Carbone (by invitation), Denying Eros? How to Introduce “Les liaisons dangereuses” to the Soviet Public in the Paratexts to the Russian Translation of Laclos’ Novel by Natalya and Abram Efros (M.-L., Academia, 1933)
Kristina Landa (by invitation), Eros and Stalin. The Theme of Eroticism in the Paratexts to the Russian Translation of “Vita Nuova”
Giuseppina Giuliano (Seminar organizer), Sweeter than poison
Invited lecture for the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Languages and Oriental Civilisations, within the course “Global Dante” taught by Jacob Blakesley
9 May 2025
Sapienza University of Rome, Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies
Invited lecture delivered by
Kristina Landa, Dante in the Age of Totalitarianism: Interpreting, Translating, and Commenting on the Divine Comedy in Stalin’s Russia
Seminar for the Master’s Degree Programme in Languages and Literatures for Teaching and Cultural Professions, within the course “Russian and Soviet Culture” taught by Laura Piccolo, and included among the educational activities of the PhD Programme in Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures
8 May 2025
Roma Tre University, Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Paper presented:
Maria Zavyalova, In the Shadows of Censorship: H.G. Wells in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s
Keynote lecture by Eugeny Dobrenko (Ca’ Foscari University)
08 May 2025
University of Bologna, Forlì campus
The Aesthetic Regime of Stalinism: Socialist Realism as a Dogma in the Making
International conference “Medievalisms of the Margins. Staging Medieval Memories Outside Western Europe”
27–29 March 2025
University of Strasbourg (France)
Paper presented:
Kristina Landa, “La Vie nouvelle” dans une ‘nouvelle vie’. Paratexts to Dante’s First Book in Stalinist Russia (“Vita nuova” in a “new life”. Paratexts to Dante’s Early Book in Stalinist Russia)
Link: https://langues.unistra.fr/agenda/medievalisms-of-the-margins-les-medievalismes-a-la-marge/
Lessons in Russian language, literature and culture. Doctoral seminars and refresher courses for teachers and young scholars.
18 March 2025
University of Siena, Arezzo campus
Papers presented:
Gian Piero Piretto, Culture and Publishing in the 1930s in the USSR
Ilaria Aletto, “You look at us with contempt, we look at you with horror, but, in essence, we are close to each other”: the Paratexts to the Translations of H.G. Wells in the USSR in the 1930s
Kristina Landa, Italian Comedy in Stalin’s Russia: Soviet Paratexts to Translations of Carlo Goldoni
Alessandra Carbone, M. Proust and The Duchess’s Fan – Paratexts to Soviet Translations of Marcel Proust’s “Recherche” 1933-1938
International Conference XXXV Starptautiskā Humanitāro Zinātnu Konference / International Scientific Conference in the Humanities “The January Papers” Daugavpils
30–31 January 2025
Daugavpils State University (Latvia)
Paper presented:
Alessandra Carbone, Translating ‘Bourgeois’ Literature in Stalinist Times: Strategies and Methodologies from Paratexts to Texts
International conference “Phraseology and grammar of constructions: tradition and new approaches in Russian linguistics”
2–3 December 2024
University of Pisa
Paper presented:
Svetlana Slavkova, New phraseologies in the ideological discourse of the USSR in the early 1930s, through texts from the journal “Literatura mirovoy revolyutsiy” (Literature of the World Revolution)
International Study Day – PRIN PNRR 2022 “Rewriting European Literatures in Stalin’s Russia: Defence of European Culture or Mediation of the Regime’s Ideology?”
19 November 2024
University of Siena, Arezzo campus
Papers presented:
Serge Rolet (by invitation), Academia Publishing House: cultural interests and personal interests
Andrey Chichkine (by invitation), The portrait of Maxim Gorky based on paratexts and correspondence: 1905 – 1929
Kristina Landa, Paratexts against ‘opium’: the place of Italian literature in anti-religious propaganda in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s
Round table with contributions from Alessandra Carbone, Ilaria Aletto, Maria Zavyalova
Study seminars
12–13 November 2024
Roma Tre University, Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures..
Two meetings with Elena Ostrovskaya (University of Strasbourg) dedicated to the reception of English poetry in Soviet Russia in the 1930s, with particular focus on the Anthology of New English Poetry (Антология новой английской поэзии, 1937):
1. An Anthology of New English Poetry (1937) and Soviet Translations of English Poets in the 1930s;
2. Text and Paratext in the Anthology of New English Poetry [1937]
International conference “La mondialisation de Dante II: Aires Extra-européennes” (The internationalisation of Dante II: extra-European areas)
10–11 October 2024
University of Lorraine (France), in collaboration with the University of Bologna and the Classense Library of Ravenna
Paper presented:
Kristina Landa, Paratexts to Dante’s“Paradiso” in Hell: the third canticle in interpretations of Stalinist Russia
Link: https://www.sies-asso.org/5479-la-mondialisation-de-dante-ii-aires-extra-europeennes
International Forum “Translation and Cultural Transfer: Russian Literature in the Mirror of Translation”
10–12 September 2024
University of Granada (Spain),
Paper presented:
Kristina Landa, From “Doctor Dapertutto” to the model of socialist realism theatre: Carlo Gozzi and Carlo Goldoni in pre-revolutionary and Stalinist Russia
Study seminar “Rewriting European Literatures in Stalin’s Russia: Defence of European Culture or Mediation of the Regime’s Ideology?”.
22–23 May 2024
University of Bologna, Forlì campus
Papers presented:
Alexander Dmitriev (keynote speaker), The Mirage of the New Epic in the Evolution of Georg Lukács (1910-1930s)
Ilaria Aletto, The Paratexts of the First Translations of James Joyce in the USSR
Alessandra Carbone, “Dangerous Liaisons”? Abram Efros, preface writer for Laclos
Kristina Landa, The Paratexts of Italian Fascist Literature in the USSR
Series of Russian Language and Literature Lessons for Schools – Orientation and Refresher Activities for Secondary School Teachers
8–9 April 2024
University of Siena, Arezzo campus
Paper presented:
Kristina Landa, Italian Literature and Terror: Dante and Machiavelli in the USSR
