Feb 28
Literature of the Polygon: A Woman’s Account of Nuclear Testing in Kazakhstan
Fri, February 28, 2025
• 4:30pm
- 5:30pm (1h) • LDC 104

Literature of the Polygon: A Woman’s Account of Nuclear Testing in Kazakhstan
A talk by Diane Nemec Ignashev, Class of 1941 Professor of Russian and the Liberal Arts, Emerita, in celebration of her retirement
In 1949–1989 Soviet scientists conducted 456 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site (Polygon) located in an area Soviet security considered uninhabited, but Kazakhs revere as the seat of indigenous Kazakh culture. Since 2017 Kazakh writer Saule Doszhan (1959-) has devoted her talent to informing fellow Kazakhs and the world of the devastating effects of radiation poisoning that resulted from nuclear testing, combined with the socio-economic hardships of newly independent Kazakhstan in the 1990s, especially as experienced by Kazakh women. Professor Nemec Ignashev has completed a translation of Doszhan’s novel, tentatively titled Ayaulim of the Forty Candles, from Kazakh into English. Her talk will address the vision of Kazakh life Doszhan created for Kazakh readers, problems of translation, and the serendipitous route by which the writer and translator found each other.
Sponsor: GERM & RUSS
Event Contact: Diane Nemec Ignashev
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