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Andreï Sobol: Le Panopticum. Editions La Baconnière, 2024.

Traduit du russe par Fanchon Deligne.

"Approchez, approchez, lecteurs et lectrices, n'yaez pas peur: venez découvrir le Panopticum d'Andreï Sobol!

Idéaliste, Andreï Sobol (1888-1926) n'a de cesse chercher une cause juste, dans laquelle s'engager corps et âme. Une cause qui puisse l'arrimer dans cette Russie qui lui est chère. Mais de désillusion en désillusion, il n'y trouvera jamais sa place...

Le Panopticum, écrit peu de temps avant que Sobol de commence à sombrer, porte ssurément l'empreinte de sa vie tumultueuse, charriant pêle-mêle, au travers de curieux personnages, les élans, les tourments et le espoir brisés qui l'ont habité." Fanchon Deligne

Les panopticum russes du début du XXe siècle sont les héritiers des cabinets de curiosités, riches de tout ce qui fait la diversité vivante et fossile. L'un d'entre eux, perdu dans un village russe ne proie à la guerre civile, sert de théâtre à ce court roan. Ses membres du personnel, dont une femme avec le couer à droite, un homme avecc la peu sur les os, un liliputien et ue femme de deux cents kilos, font face à l'arrivée fracassante d'une communauté d'anarchiste-égocentriste en fuite... 

About the author

Nadia Sikorsky

Nadia Sikorsky was born and raised in Moscow. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and went on to complete her postgraduate studies there, earning a PhD in History. She spent 13 years at UNESCO, first in Paris and then in Geneva. After serving as Director of Communications at Green Cross International, founded by Mikhail Gorbachev, she launched NashaGazeta.ch in 2007, Switzerland’s first Russian-language online daily newspaper.

In 2022, Nadia Sikorsky was named to Le Temps’ Forum des 100, which brings together individuals who, in the newspaper’s view, have “significantly contributed to the success of French-speaking Switzerland”, from across public life, business, politics, science and culture.

After 18 years at the helm of NashaGazeta.ch, Nadia Sikorsky decided to devote herself to what had always held a special place in her work as a journalist: culture in all its diversity. This led to the creation of Russian Accent, a trilingual cultural blog in Russian, French and English, born in the heart of Europe, in Switzerland, which has become her second home and whose multiculturalism and multilingualism have helped shape the character of this new project.

At the heart of the project is the perspective of a European of Russian origin, drawing on more than 35 years of professional experience and a deep knowledge of both cultural traditions. Nadia Sikorsky sees her role as that of a cultural mediator between the two. The title of the blog, Russian Accent, reflects this idea: the accent is neither a linguistic barrier nor a political position, but a distinctive cultural imprint within a European context.

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