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APRIL 2021
(SRF TRUSTEES TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WISH ALL MEMBERS A HAPPY EASTER) FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND GENERAL INFORMATION 1. SRF "CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS" We thank Dr. Andrea Gullotta for his excellent session in the SRF series "Cultural Conversations" on March 27th. Members had a chance to see sections of his outstanding Exhibition "Beauty in Hell" and to hear about his future research plans. His talk and the previous two zoom sessions will, in due course, be uploaded HERE. 2. On SATURDAY APRIL 24th at 4pm Dr Shamil' Khairov will give his "Meet the Author" session when he will discuss the making of and anecdotes about his new Dictionary. The zoom link session will be sent out to members with the early May mailing. 3. "THE CHERRY (OR CHEERY?) ORCHARD IN SCOTLAND" Various ideas have already been exchanged about the possibility of holding an SRF Symposium in the autumn - "Chekhov's 'Cherry (or Cheery?) Orchard in Scotland". If you have any information about or memories of a Scottish production/translation of this play (or, indeed, about any of Chekhov's plays in Scotland), please do contact us... 4. SRF INFORMATION PAGE It is hoped that both this page and the monthly e-mail will soon have a new and improved look. This page will be used exclusively for updating SRF information/events and hopefully members can consult it on a regular basis. We would be grateful to hear from you if you have any items of interest/information you would like to post here OR ideas about possible future events/speakers. 5. SRF AGM The SRF AGM was held on March 26th 2021. Thanks to members who returned the proxy forms; thanks too are due to David Caldwell, SRF Secretary, to Peter Harvey, SRF Treasurer, and also to David Brew, former SRF Trustee for his help and advice. 6. SRF POSTAL ADDRESS For the foreseeable future please do not use the CEES postal address for any SRF communications as the CEES buildings are still closed. Thank you - please e-mail us instead. 7.NAVAL DESTROYERS Frank Donald has sent us in a link so that members can access fascinating information about naval destroyers. Please see : http://vandwdestroyersassociation.org.uk/HMS Whitehall/warships.html If you would more information about this, please send a message to the SRF e-mail address and this can be forwarded to Frank. Frank has recently updated this information so please contact him via the SRF e-mail address. 8."RUSSIA FOR KIDS" Jenny Carr has shared her beautiful website with members. Please see: https://www.russiaforkids.info She will be adding to this so do keep looking! A lot of members have already enjoyed this. 9. SRF TRIP TO RUSSIA 2022 All SRF members should have received the leaflet with details of the proposed SRF trip to Russia and also seen the information in the latest issue of "Forum". Thanks to both Sheila Sim ("Forum" Editor) and to Peter Harvey (SRF Treasurer). Due to the current travel restrictions and the pandemic this trip will now take place IN JUNE 2022. Peter Harvey and Jennifer Scarce will be meeting the Edinburgh Travel Agents at the end of April and they will be updating members in the near future about the trip. Please watch this space! 10. RUSSIAN COURSES ON LINE Tanya Yurasova is offering Russian Courses on line. Please see: tancam.uk/russian-course or e-mail her directly at tyurasova@gmail.com or visit https://tancam.uk/russian 11. For Dostoevsky "fans" please see George Pattison's work at https://conversationswithdostoevsky.com SHORT SUMMARIES OF "CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS": 1. "Edwin Morgan and Russian Culture". My talk was to give an overview of Edwin Morgan's translation of Russian poetry, including some memories of my meetings with Eddie, notably the occasions when he met Andrey Voznesensky and Gennady Aygi in Edinburgh. Morgan, the first poet laureate (makar) of Scotland, was a prolific translator of poetry from about twenty European languages into both Scots and English. Translations from Russian bulk large in his 'Collected Translations' (1996). The most famous of these is 'Wi the Haill Voice', his vigorous and inventive transposition of Mayakovsky into Scots. I would have looked at the Mayakovsky alongside Morgan's always faithful translations from Pushkin and from Voznesensky and Aygi, two very different younger contemporaries. Professor Peter France, (University of Edinburgh) 2. Dr Shamil' Khairov (University of Glasgow) will deliver a "Meet the Author" session to launch his new book "Russian for All Occasions" which he co-authored with Dr. John Dunn. Dr Khairov will offer a very humorous introduction, looking at his own experiences of both learning and teaching the many Slavonic languages he masters and he will reveal some of the "secrets" that prompted him to produce this very special and useful volume...If you want to know what untied shoelaces had to do with this book, well you will have to wait and see...Dr Khairov's talk will combine both a light touch and serious scholarship... Honours 2019-2020 Members will wish to congratulate long-standing SRF member, Lieutenant Commander Dairmid Gunn, OBE, on this well-deserved honour. Author of a book on the convoys to Russia during the Second World War, interpreter in the 1950s and posted as assistant naval attache to Moscow in the 1960s, Lieutenant Commander Gunn has served the cause of the promotion of cultural relations between Russia and the UK in a tireless and in an excellent manner. In the 1980s, for example, he was the chairman of the Scottish Branch of the GB-USSR Association and a member of its Council. This has been a splendid start to the summer and warmest wishes and congratulations are passed on to Dairmid! July 2019 MIROSLAVA BRONNIKOVA has recently been elected as the first ever Russian to be on the Board of Directors of the Edinburgh Fringe! Her appointment will be ratified at the AGM to be held on August 21st. Miroslava reveals that her "...love affair with Edinburgh started in 1999 when I first came to visit the city with my family for a couple of days in late August". In 2000 Miroslava spent 3 months studying at St George's School for Girls in Edinburgh and she returned to the city in 2013 to complete a Cambridge CELTA Course. With her husband Ivan she founded a theatre and dance company in Moscow and they are especially proud of their production based on Bulgakov's " Master and Margarita" For information on the two shows Miroslava has at this years Fringe please see https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/all-star-cabaret-the-free-fringe-gala Miroslava's e-mail address is miroslava.bronnikova@gmail.com and she will be very happy to hear from SRF members! |