Research interests

Current Research:

Twentieth-century Russian Poetry

Although most of my work so far has been on Russian poetry of the Soviet period, especially the Stalin era, I have also explored the ways in which the twentieth-century poetry canon has been changing in contemporary Russia, particularly in connection with attempts to define and express post-Soviet Russian national identity. I am now beginning to investiage how twentieth-century Russian poets have mapped out their own networks of affinity with other poets (contemporaries, predecessors, poets outside Russia) by the way they draw these other poets into their work, e.g. by dedicating poems to them or alluding to their poetry. This is connected with my longstanding concern with reassessing the perception of Russian twentieth century poetry as a tradition fractured by revolution and the state's attempts to control culture; it explores the ways that poets themselves have expressed their sense of where they stand in relation to a poetic tradition, as part of an autonomous community of poets which extends beyond the borders of a particular time, place, or political system.

The Twentieth-century Russian Poetic Canon

A collection of essays on the evolving canon, Twentieth-Century Russian Poetry: Reinventing the Canon, appeared in 2017, and a book written together with Alexandra Smith on the changing canon and Russian national identity, was published in 2020. These were developed through a collaborative project funded by the AHRC, 'Reconfiguring the Canon of Twentieth-Century Russian Poetry, 1991-2008', which I led between 2010 and 2013.

Ol′ga Berggol′ts (1910-75)

My second book focused on a poet best known for her poetry on the wartime Siege of Leningrad, and therefore widely thought of as an ‘official' Soviet poet. In the first extended English-language study of the poet I explore Berggol′ts's artistic response to the complexities of her situation, which puts in question the categories of ‘official' and ‘dissident' writer often used in discussions of Soviet-era literature. More recent publications on Berggol'ts include a chapter on Berggol'ts's speech at the 1954 Congress of the Soviet Writers' Union, a landmark in Thaw-era culture, and a chapter on perceptions of time and space in her writing on the Siege, which appeared in a volume about Siege narratives.

Russian War Poetry

The work on Berggol'ts grew from my doctoral dissertation, which focussed on the poetry that was written in Russian in the USSR during the war years 1941-45, and on the ways it both adhered to and challenged the norms of socialist realism. A chapter on Russian poetry of World War One will shortly appear in a Cambridge University Press volume of essays about the poetry that emerged from the 1914-18 conflict.

Comparative Literature

I have researched the translation and reception of poetry by Rudyard Kipling in pre-war Soviet Russia, and by Heinrich Heine in the mid-nineteenth century, and have explored later translations of Heine by Iurii Tynianov. My most recent piece of research in this area examines Soviet poet Boris Slutskii's translations into Russian of poetry and songs by Bertolt Brecht. 

Research collaborations

In 2018 I took part in a workshop at University College London, led by Professor Maria Rubins, at which an international group of scholars discussed Russian literature of the diaspora; this led to the publication of an edited volume of essays in 2021. Other international collaborations in which I have taken part include a workshop on Russian culture in the age of globalisation at the University of Leeds, and a conference on narratives of the Leningrad Siege, at Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich. I contributed to edited volumes arising from these two events, and to a volume on the 1954 Second Congress of Soviet writers, edited by Dr Valerii Viugin of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Russian Literature.

The AHRC-funded project 'Reconfiguring the Canon of Twentieth-Century Russian Poetry, 1991-2008' enabled me to collaborate with a number of colleagues. Dr Alexandra Smith of the University of Edinburgh was Co-investigator on the project; together we are completng a book on the Russian poetry canon and national identity. Dr Joanne Shelton was the project Associate Research Fellow, based at Exeter, who, among other things, developed the project database and undertook research trips to Moscow and St Petersburg. Dr Smith, Dr Shelton and I edited a collection of essays developed by a team of scholars in a series of workshops supported by the project, including colleagues in the UK, the USA, and Russia. A book on the changing canon and Russian national identity, which I have collaborated on with Dr Smith, was published in 2020.

Research supervision

I welcome research proposals in any area related to my research specialism, and would be particularly interested in proposed projects in the field of twentieth-century Russian poetry, Russian literary canon formation, the culture of the Soviet period, Russian literature/culture and war.

Research students

Postgraduate research students

Current: Suzanne Eade Roberts, Ph.D (supervised jointly with colleagues at Bristol) on Soviet translation theory.

Dave Weller, Masters by Research, 'The Poetry of Ida Nappelbaum), co-supervised with Dr Emily Lygo.

Elena Goodwin, Ph.D, 2017, 'The literary representation of Englishness in translated children's literature in Russia: a case study of classics of English children's fiction' (AHRC funded studentship); co-supervised with Dr Emily Lygo.

Natalia Karakulina, Ph.D, 2016, 'The position in the post-Soviet canon of the poet Vladimir Maiakovskii' (AHRC funded as part of the project 'Reconfiguring the Canon of Twentieth-Century Russian Poetry, 1991-2008); first supervisor.

Adam Coker, Ph.D, 2015, 'The historical origins of permanent cultural transfer from France to Russia'; second supervisor.

Rebecca Knight, Ph.D, 2013,  'A comparative study of representations of childhood in the USSR and GDR portrayed in Russian and German fiction and autobiography published since 1990/1', (Exeter University Studentship); first supervisor.

Ursula Stohler, Ph.D, 2003, 'Russian women writers of the 1800-1820s and the response to sentimentalist literary conventions of nature, the feminine and writing: Mariia Pospelova, Mariia Bolotnikova and Anna Naumova (Exeter University Graduate Teaching Assistantship & ORS funding); co-supervisor.

Douglas Martin, Ph.D, 2003, 'Boris Pilnyak: the Development and Stifling of Russian Modernism'.

Teaching

Developing students' interest in the culture, history, and language of Russia is at the centre of my approach to teaching. Teaching the language not only gives me the opportunity to help students prepare for their encounters with contemporary Russia, but to prepare them to encounter Russian literary texts, where the language is pushed to its limits, and which reflect and shape the preoccuptions of the Russian mental universe.

Research has informed, and continues to inform my teaching of Russian studies modules. A first-year historical module on the development of Russian national identity and the role of imperial expansion in creating such an identity grew out of current research on ways in which post-Soviet concerns over Russian identity have been expressed in approaches to twentieth-century poetry, especially poetry which can be identified as playing a significant role in supporting national identity. Other modules I teach focus on literary subjects, e.g. Pushkin's novel in verse, Evgenii Onegin; a module on animals in Russian writing looks at how animals have been represented in a variety of texts, including traditional folktales, stories by classic authors, and poetry.

Modules taught

• MLR1001 - Contemporary Russian Written and Oral
• MLR1005 - Chekhov's Major Plays
• MLR2021 - Understanding Russia
• MLR3026 - The Deceptive City: The Creation of St Petersburg in Russian Literature
• MLR3111 - Advanced Russian Language Skills
• SML3015 - Dissertation