This is the third episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past. She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.
In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee speaks with Angelina Eimannsberger, a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. Angelina hosts a bookstagram account, @indulgencezine, where she discusses novels and memoirs by contemporary women writers. Also mentioned in this episode are the books Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, The Matchmaker’s List, and Bastards of Utopia. Bastards of Utopia is also a documentary film, as is Knock down the house.
The intro and outro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com
You can follow Angelina Eimannsberger on Instagram at: @indulgencezine
Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things Kollontai
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