Gastvortrag von Hans J. Rindisbacher (Pomona College)

Institut für Slavische Philologie der LMU lädt ein zum Gastvortrag von

Hans J. Rindisbacher (Pomona College):
“A Russian/Soviet History in the Modality of the Olfactory”

WANN: Mittwoch, 30. Oktober, 16-18 Uhr c.t.
WO: Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 (LMU-Hauptgebäude), Raum E 318

Der Vortrag findet im Rahmen des literaturwissenschaftlichen Forschungskolloquiums von Prof. Dr. Riccardo Nicolosi statt.

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Abstract

“You know, in order to exist, everything alive has to have a smell.”
Mikhail Shishkin, Письмовник, 2010 (The Light and the Dark).

In my presentation I will sketch out an olfactory history of Russia from the late 19th into the 21st century, an account of a smellscape and its changes over time. Set up largely as a history of perfumery and manufactured scents, my narrative is cultural more than literary, collective rather than individualistic. Methodologically it draws on the recent trend of sensory historiography, here focused on the olfactory.

I’ll start in the late 19th century and provide a few insights into the Tsarist and then Soviet perfume industries, including the consumer paradise of изобилие (abundance), promised by Stalin in the 1930s, before I move on to discuss the significant changes in the national sense-scapes that came with the end of the Soviet Union and the rise of post-Soviet consumer capitalism, as outlined, e.g., by Christoph Neidhardt.

Along these touch points I’ll keep in mind as the presentation’s connective tissue the story of the Soviet signature scent, Красная Москва (Krasnaya Moskva). The focus on this iconic perfume allows me to conclude on the topic of memory and nostalgia, phenomena strongly associated with the sense of smell, and even touch on a hint of national identity that has accrued around this perfume. Thus, my presentation can serve as a complement to the recent volume Sehen, Hören, Berühren (Efimova, Kohl 2024) that members of the Institute of Slavic Philology contributed to.