About
My dissertation is a literary and cultural history of the Red Army in Soviet Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. I explore the reinvention of the Soviet soldier in the wake of the Great Patriotic War, arguing that the artistic representation of soldiers was fundamentally altered by post-World War II conceptualizations of war crimes and genocide. Focusing on the (in)visibility of atrocity reveals a central but often overlooked feature of war memory and the cult of victory in late Soviet society. In addition to discussing Soviet writers that are well-known in the West - Vasily Grossman, Svetlana Alexievich, and the Strugatsky Brothers - I examine the war writing of Vasil Bykaû, Grigory Baklanov, Lev Ginzburg, and Margarita Khemlin. I also draw attention to the unique relationship between WWII and the Soviet film industry, highlighting war films produced in Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states.
Research and teaching interests
Literature and war, Russian and Soviet national identity, patriotism and patriotic expression, ethnic violence and imperial conquest, the history of Jews in Russia and the USSR, Soviet film, Tolstoy and the Russian canon
Current projects
- Oral history of Soviet Jewish soldiers and the Holocaust
- The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and comparison to the Vietnam War
