#  Pavel Muratov’s OBRAZY ITALII/ EVOCATIONS OF ITALY: A Russian Modernist Iteration of "Il Viaggio Educativo" 

 



    ![pile of letter shapes](/sites/g/files/omnuum4936/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/mahindra/files/translation.jpg?itok=cRNT3iZA) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **October 15, 2026** 

 05:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

  **CGIS-South, S354**  



 

 



 

## [RETHINKING TRANSLATION](/rethinking-translation)

## SPEAKERS: Lena Lenček, Reed College; Justin Weir, Harvard University

Between 1911 and 1924, the Russian art historian, novelist, essayist, and critic Pavel Muratov (1881-1950) published a dazzling trilogy of travel impressions entitled *Obrazy Italii*, previously untranslated but now rendered into English by Lena Lenček under the title *Evocations of Italy* (Northwestern University Press, 2026). At once erudite and lyrical, philosophical and practical, historical and of its moment, this strange and unclassifiable text is as radical in its free-wheeling bending of generic conventions as was Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy in its own time. Yet, as this presentation will demonstrate, this brilliant “impossible” text deliberately deploys multiple discursive modalities in its objective of reanimating and reconstituting the classical Italian tradition of il viaggio educativo (the educational journey) so as to provoke in his contemporary readers as equally the readers of today, a remolding of aesthetic and ethical values.

### About the Speakers

**Lena Lenček** is a professor emerita of Russian and Humanities at Reed College. A scholar of Russian and Slavic literature, her teaching and research have encompassed medieval East Slavic literature, Russian Romanticism and Modernism, and literary theory. She is the author and co-author of numerous books on cultural history, including *The Beach: A History of Paradise on Earth*, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her prolific work has led to several television documentaries. She has been a radio columnist for Canadian Public Broadcasting and has contributed to "The Savvy Traveler", National Public Radio, and other NPR venues. Most recently, she translated Pavel Muratov’s (1881-1950) dazzling trilogy of travel impressions, *Obrazy Italii* (Evocations of Italy, Northwestern University Press, 2026). Professor Lenček was educated at Barnard College and Harvard University.

**Justin McCabe Weir** is Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Professor of Comparative Literature, and a faculty affiliate of the Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies. He received his BA in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Minnesota in 1991, and an MA (1993) and PhD (1997) in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Northwestern University. Weir writes and teaches primarily about novels, literary theory, and film.

 !["Evocations of Italy" book cover](/sites/g/files/omnuum4936/files/2026-09/Screenshot%202026-09-21%20at%2011.13.53%E2%80%AFAM.png)

 

*Co-sponsored by the* [*Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures*](https://slavic.fas.harvard.edu/)



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Seminar ](/event-type/seminar)
- [ Rethinking Translation ](/seminars/rethinking-translation)
 
 

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