Published by University of Toronto Press, Prof. Seifrid’s new book Staging the Absolute: Ritual in Russia’s Modern Era argues that an array of practices and beliefs came together to define an essential aspect of Russian and Soviet culture in the twentieth century: the persistent desire to interrupt – or disrupt – history. Drawing on sources that define the nature of public rituals, the book reveals the pervasive presence of the impulse to impede history in Russia’s modern era and the realization of the idea in the form of the Stalinist show trials of the 1930s.

Watch the video recording of the book being discussed by Galin Tihanov (Queen Mary University London) and Nancy Condee (University of Pittsburgh).