Education
Ph.D. 2010, Yale University
M. A. 2002, Yale University
B. A. 1989, Moscow State University
Interests
Second language acquisition and multimedia teaching materials, Nabokov’s art and thought, Russian History, Philosophical aspects of literature, Russian poetry
Current Courses and Programs
Language courses
Intensive Russian (First and Second Years)
Third-Year Russian
Yale Summer Session at Yale and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Content courses on literature, culture, and history
The Russian Works of Vladimir Nabokov
The Language of the Russian Revolution
The Grotesque in Victor Pelevin
Russian for Literary and Cultural Interpretation
Selected Works of Russian Literature in the Original
Publications
Books and Long Essays
“Nabokov’s Philosophy of Art” (long essay). Nabokov Studies (15), 2017.
Essential Russian. Textbook, 3 CDs and an online course. New York: Living Language, Random House, 2013.
Intermediate Russian. Textbook, 3 CDs and an online course. New York: Living Language, Random House, 2013.
Advanced Russian. Textbook, 3 CDs and an online course. New York: Living Language, Random House, 2013 .
Doctoral Dissertation: Nabokov’s Philosophy of Art. ProQuest, UMI Dissertation Publishing, 2011.
Complete Russian Course: The Basics. New York: Living Language, Random House, 2008.
Selected Articles
“God Keep us from Ghosts” a book review of A. Ostrovsky’s The Invention of Russia. Versopolis: European Review of Poetry, Books and Culture, September 2016.
“Математика и искусство в Приглашении на казнь и других художественных и публицистических произведениях Набокова” / “Mathematics and Art in Invitation to a Beheading and Other Fictional and Discursive Works of Nabokov” (pp. 17-30). Набоковский сборник 2/15. St. Petersburg, Russia: The Museum of Vladimir Nabokov, St. Petersburg State University, 2015.
“Squaring the Circle: Philosophical and Aesthetic Amendments to Vladimir Alexandrov Interpretive Theory” (pp. 47-78). Transactions of the Association of Russian-American Scholars in the U.S.A. Volume XXXVIII. Richmond Hill, NY: The Association of Russian-American Scholars in the U.S.A., 2014.
“Choosing the Hero: Nabokov’s Short Story ‘Recruiting’ as an Introduction to his Aesthetics” (pp. 61-84). Russian Literature, Number 64, 2008.
Selected Conferences
Organized a two-panel conference, Careers and Foreign Languages: Government and Private Sector Opportunities. The CLS and MacMillan Center. October 2017.
ASEEES Conference Washington, DC. Presented the paper “Nabokov’s Antihistoricism Reconsidered: History and Poetry in The Gift and Other Works.” November 2016.
“Nabokov’s Confrontations with Mathematics in His Art and Critical Prose.” Nabokov Readings / Набоковские чтения. International Conference in the Nabokov Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. July 2014.
Organized the panel “Revolutions and Traditions in Victor Pelevin.” ASEEES Conference Boston, MA. November 2013. Presented the paper “The Ethics of the Grotesque in Victor Pelevin.”
“Poetry as Therapy: the Problem of Imagination and Reality in The Eye.” Nabokov Readings / Набоковские чтения. International Conference in the Nabokov Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. July 2013.
Organized the panel “Methodological and Cultural Specifics of Teaching Russian in the U.S. and Abroad.” NESEEES Conference at Barnard College. New York, NY. March 23, 2013. Presented the paper “Methodological Problems of Teaching Aspect to English-Speaking Students of Russian.” Served as Chair and Discussant in the panel “Nabokov’s Ethics and Aesthetics” at the AATSEEL conference. Boston, MA. January 4, 2012.
“The Macedonian Critique of Philosophy in Pelevin’s Chapaev and Pustota.” North East Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Conference. March 24, 2012.
“Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence and Nabokov’s Cosmic Synchronization: Setting up the Problem of Pure Aesthetics.” 32th Mid-Atlantic Slavic Conference. The New School, New York. April 4, 2009.
Awards and Grants
The Kuzmanovich Family Prize for the best dissertation on Vladimir Nabokov for the period 2010-2015. January 2016.
The CLS Instructional Innovation Grant (Yale University) for writing a textbook for Third Year Russian based on the course taught at Yale. Spring 2016 – Spring 2012
Textbook Editing
Reviewed for publication Read and Think Russian: An Intermediate Reader. By Basil Bessonoff. Alexandria, VA: Culmen, 2017.
Evaluated a manuscript of the textbook Russian Language Textbook for Beginners. North American Edition. iLearnRussian Publishers, an imprint of Russia Online, Inc. Maryland, 2013. Authors: V. Antonova, M. Nakhabina, M. Safronova, A. Tolstykh (Russia), and V. Bessonoff (editor, USA). An excerpt from the review is printed on the back cover. February 2013.
Evaluated a manuscript of the textbook Business Russian. Georgetown University Press. April - May 2012.
Evaluated the manuscript, “Eugene Onegin the Cold War Monument: How Edmund Wilson Quarreled with Vladimir Nabokov.” Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature. March-April 2012.