Description: Teaching Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature: Essays in Honor of Robert L. Belknap grew out of a conference in honor of Robert Belknap, an outstanding teacher and scholar. The collected essays present concrete strategies for teaching the works of some of Russia's best-known writers: Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov. They address the teaching of these iconic works of Russian literature in different contexts and to different audiences, from undergraduate students reading Russian classics in the context of general education courses to graduate students exploring the larger context of Russian print culture. Most of the essays address teaching in English translation, a few in the original, but all offer useful strategies that can be adopted for teaching to any audience. Contributors include: Robert L. Belknap, Elizabeth Klosty Beaujour, Ksana Blank, Ellen Chances, Nicholas Dames, Andrew R. Durkin, Jefferson J.A. Gatrall, Svetlana Slavskaya Grenier, Robert Louis Jackson, Liza Knapp, Deborah A. Martinsen, Olga Meerson, Maude Meisel, Robin Feuer Miller, Marcia A. Morris, Gary Saul Morson, Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy, Cathy Popkin, Irina Reyfman, Rebecca Stanton, William Mills Todd III, and Nancy Workman.
Brief description: Deborah A. Martinsen was Associate Dean of Alumni Education and Adjunct Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature, Columbia University. Past president of the International Dostoevsky Society and former executive secretary of the North American Dostoevsky Society, Martinsen is the author of "Surprised by Shame: Dostoevsky's Liars and Narrative Exposure" (Ohio, 2003) and co-editor of "Dostoevsky in Context" (Oxford, 2015).
Review Quotes: "This impressive volume on nineteenth-century literature with its twenty-two essays (on such classical Russian writers as Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov) authored by experienced scholars who regularly teach the great books attests to the notable influence of the late Robert L. Belknap (Columbia University) on the field of Russian Studies in the United States."--Elizabeth Blake, Saint Louis University "Slavic and East European Journal, 59.3 (Fall 2015)"