Every now and then, every reader has sensed it, but few are able to pinpoint what it really is. Russian soul remains one of the most immortal phenomena in the history of literature. A Russian writer Viktor Yerofeyev, a guest of this year’s Fabula, has ironically observed in English that whenever he drinks vodka, he drinks his own Russian soul. Mathias Énard, a French writer, also a guest of this year’s Fabula, opened his novel, set in Russia, with words he attributed to Chekhov, namely that Russian soul consists only of alcohol, nostalgia and love of horse racing. Serendipitously, a new Slovenian translation of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground has just been published. It was Dostoyevsky who was one of the first authors to make Russian soul an export product. Which part of Russian soul is tangible – and which is only an illusion?

Come along on a literary journey with Beletrina and the World Literatures Festival – Fabula, and hear dr. Blaž Podlesnik, Urša Zabukovec, Sara Špelec and Andrej Stopar in conversation with dr. Aljoša Harlamov.

Passages from selected works of fiction will be read by Rok Vihar, a member of the SNT Drama Ljubljana ensemble.

Join us on Tuesday, March 7, at 17.00 in the Drama café. Free tickets can be collected from the Drama box office. Book early to avoid disappointment.