The Red Snowball Tree and other works by Shukshin

Vasily Shukshin — one of the most striking and versatile creatives of the Soviet era. A writer, director, and actor who spoke about humanity with a sometimes brutal, yet always sincere attitude. Before enrolling at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), he switched multiple jobs: a mechanic, a sailor, a teacher, and a school principal. He wrote his first stories while serving in the army and began to publish them during his student years.

Shukshin’s short stories and novellas, written in a simple and accessible language with the use of local dialect and unique sense of humour, resonated deeply with the Soviet reader. The writer’s popularity was so immense that people unquestioningly trusted his characters, and newspapers regularly put them into crossword puzzles. 

One of Shukshin’s most significant films, which he both directed and starred in, is The Red Snowball Tree. The adaptation of his cinematic novella explores inner struggle, redemption, and the meaning of life — themes that deeply preoccupied the author. The character of Gryshka, a man returning to his native village after prison, embodies the complexity of human fate and society’s attitude toward "flawed" heroes. During the lecture, we will discuss how The Red Snowball Tree reflects Shukshin’s core ideas, as well as his unique approach to direction and acting. 

Lecturer 

Nina Shcherbak is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Philology and Cultural Linguistics at St Petersburg University, with a Master of Arts degree from the United Kingdom. A prolific writer and screenwriter, Shcherbak is also a scriptwriter for popular science TV shows and the author of fifteen monographs and several books on linguistics, literature, language philosophy, and English literature. 

The lecture will be held online in Russian with simultaneous interpreting into Spanish.

Registration