Lenin in the streets, Dostoevsky in the sheets

In this series, we’re going to explore some classical and not-so-classical Slavic literature. I’m not going to say Ruzzian because fuck Ruzzia, so we’ll abstract a little and say Slavic people. This way, we can recruit the Baltics and Balkans into our tribe.

To start, I’m going to pick a novel or novella. We’ll begin with Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky. Our read-through will operate as follows:

1. We’ll read two chapters of the novel each week, starting on Fridays, so you can use the weekend if you prefer.
2. On Mondays, I’ll post a short summary of each chapter, followed by a writing prompt that will help us examine what has transpired during our journey so far.
3. On Wednesdays, I’ll post my own response to said prompt and ask that club members have their responses in by the same day.
4. Discussion will remain open until Friday—or beyond, if you prefer to recurse to previous chapters or prompts—where we’ll solicit feedback from one another.
5. I might host a weekly online Socratic circle on Thursday evenings if I get enough support. Unlikely.

We’ll repeat the above process until we’ve wormed our way through the entire book. When we’re done, I’ll propose three new works we can take on and open the choice up to the group members to vote—or “no confidence” my ass and pick something entirely out of left field.

In the words of Stalin: “Open a pop top of Stoli and let’s get going.”