International Conference in Athens

June 3-5, 2027

Location: National Library of Greece (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre)

Under the auspices of:
The National Library of Greece, Athens, Greece

The Research Initiative in Russian Philosophy, Literature, and Religious Thought, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Northwestern University. Evanston. USA

Dostoevsky lived at a time when Russia was undergoing the inroads of modernity. In his much-quoted letter to N. D. Fonvizina, written in 1854, he described himself as “a child of the century, a child of unbelief and doubt”—a condition, he added, that would remain with him “to the very lid of my coffin.” Dostoevsky’s work, saturated with the ideas and tensions of his time, reflects both his deep engagement with modernity and his profound criticism of it. Later readers have often seen in him a precursor, or even a “prophet,” of forms of modern consciousness that crystallised only after his death.

We invite papers on Dostoevsky and modernity in both directions: on Dostoevsky as a writer shaped by the intellectual, spiritual, political, and aesthetic transformations of the modern age, and on Dostoevsky as a force that helped shape modernity after him. “Dostoevsky’s modern afterlives” offers a shorthand for this second line of inquiry.

Papers on other Dostoevsky-related topics are also welcome.

The working language of the conference will be English and Greek. Papers in Russian may also be accommodated, subject to confirmation.

Please send a title, an abstract of up to 300 words, and a short biographical note to:

sljivancanin.zorka@ucy.ac.cy 
ckarakep@slavstud.uoa.gr 
markosgalounis@yahoo.com 
s-mcreynolds@northwestern.edu 

Deadline for the submission of the abstract: October 15, 2026

The conference format will be in person.