Benjamin M. Sutcliffe

Education

• 2004 - Ph.D. -  University of Pittsburgh, Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures
  • Dissertation title: Engendering Byt: Russian Women Writers and Narratives of Everyday Life, 1962-2001.
    Advisor: Helena Goscilo.
• 2004 - Ph.D. Certificate in Cultural Studies - University of Pittsburgh
• 1999 - M.A. -  University of Pittsburgh, Slavic Languages and Literatures 
• 1996 - B.A. - Reed College, English Literature
  • Undergraduate thesis: Representation and Autonomy in Sergei Dovlatov’s Zona and Nevidimaia kniga.
  • Advisor: Charles Isenberg.

Teaching and Research Interests

• Contemporary Russian literature
• The Russian novel
• Russian language
• Russian folklore
• Studies of everyday life
• Women’s prose
• Georgian literature in Russian

Courses Taught

• RUS 201: Intermediate Russian
• RUS 202: Intermediate Russian
• RUS 301: Advanced Russian
• RUS 302: Advanced Russian
• RUS/ENG/HON 256: Russian Literature-Tolstoy to Nabokov
• RUS/ENG/HON 257: Russian Literature in English Translation
• RUS 301: Advanced Russian
• RUS 302: Advanced Russian
• RUS/HST 436: Havighurst Colloquium
• POL 440/540: Havighurst Colloquium

Selected Publications and Presentations

Current Projects

• Article on trauma and representation in the prose of Andrei Makine (under peer review).
• Chapter on trauma, war, and gender in the prose of Russian-speaking Armenian author Narine Abgarian. Invited to contribute to edited volume (chapter submitted).
• Revising article on a Russophone anthology devoted to post-Soviet conflicts in the South Caucasus.
• Beginning research for monograph on contemporary Russophone prose in the South Caucasus.

Books

• Empire of Objects: Iurii Trifonov and the Material World of Soviet Culture. University of Wisconsin Press, 2023. 157 Pages.
• Ludmila Ulitskaya and the Art of Tolerance, a monograph coauthored with Elizabeth Skomp (Sewanee, University of the South). University of Wisconsin Press, 2015. 238 pages. Foreward by Helena Goscilo. Reviewed by Times Literary Supplement, Publishers Weekly, Choice, Slavic Review, Russian Review, Slavonic and East European Review, Modern Language Review, Slavic and East European Journal, Canadian Slavonic Papers. Excerpts republished in Contemporary Literary Criticism: Lyudmila Ulitskaya (Gale), 2019.
• The Prose of Life: Russian Women's Writing from Khrushchev to Putin. University of Wisconsin Press, 2009. 208 pages. Selected for Mellon Slavic Studies Initiative. Selected by Choice as Outstanding Academic Title. Reviewed by Modern Language Review, Choice, a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, Slavic Review, Russian Review, Slavic and East European Journal, Canadian Slavonic Papers, Slavonica.

Articles

• “Repetition, Ageing and End of Life in Liudmila Ulitskaia’s The Body of the Soul.” Slavonic and East European Review 3 (2023): 430-49.
• “Losing Empire, Gaining Hope: Kyrgyz Migrants in Musa Murataliev’s Guest Worker Trilogy.” New Zealand Slavonic Journal. 54-55 (2021-2022). 47-67.
• “When Trifonov Read Dostoevsky: Ideology, Avarice, and Violence in Late Soviet Culture.” Dostoevsky Studies. 24 (2021). 79-100. 
• “Commemoration and Connection: Liudmila Ulitskaia and the Universe of the Body in Jacob’s Ladder.” Slavonic and East European Review. 93 (3) 2019. 451-70.
• “Cake, Cabbage, and the Morality of Consumption in Iurii Trifonov’s House on the Embankment.” In Seasoned Socialism: Gender and Food in Late Soviet Everyday Life. Eds. Angela Brintlinger, Anastasia Lakhtikova, and Irina Glushchenko. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019.
• "Trifonov's Turkmenia: Optimism, Despair, and the Intelligentsia." In Borders and Beyond: Orient-Occident Crossings in Literature. Eds. Adam Bednarczyk, Magdalena Kubarek, Maciej Szatkowski. Wilmington: Vernon Press, 2018. 125-38.

Presentations

• “Remembering Soviet Tbilisi: Georgia’s Capital in Russophone Writing.” Global Studies Conference, Krakow. July 17-19, 2024.
• “Remembering Soviet Tbilisi in Russophone Georgian Novels.” Caucasus Research Forum, Slavic Reference Service Online Conference. April 24-25, 2024.
• “Russophonia and Reconciliation in the South Caucasus Literary Anthology A Time to Live.” Works in Progress Series, Caucasus Research Resource Center, Tbilisi August 2, 2023.
• “Dialog and the Shadows of Empire in the Literary Collection A Time to Live.” Caucasus Research Resource Center Conference, Tbilisi. June 22-23, 2023.
• “Trauma and Kindness in Narine Abgarian’s To Keep Living and Those Who are Always with Me.” Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Conference. Seattle, WA. April 20-22, 2023.
• “On The Body of the Soul: Aging and the End of Life in Liudmila Ulitskaia’s Prose.” Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Chicago, IL. November 10-13, 2022.
• “Sincerity, Dokumental’nost, and Paradox in Iurii Trifonov’s Turkmenistan.” Firsthand Time: Documentary Aesthetics in the Long 1960s. Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung. Berlin, Germany. January 16-18, 2020.
• “Iurii Trifonov and the Perils of Dokumental’nost’.” ASEEES. San Francisco, CA. November 22-26, 2019.
• Book Panel: “Seasoned Socialism: Food and Gender in the Late Soviet Everyday Life.” Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Summer Convention. Zagreb, Croatia. June 13-17, 2019.
• "Sincerity i the Material World: Iurii Trifonov Confronts Consumerism." The Body of Things: Gender, Material Culture and Design in (Post) Soviet Russian. Aarhus, Denmark. March 8-9, 2018.

Professional Recognition

• Spring 2018, Spring 2010. Nomination, Outstanding Professor Award, Associated Student Goverment, Miami University

Selected Grants and Awards

• Summer 2023. American Councils for International Education (ACIE) Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program Award for research in Tbilisi.
• Summer 2018. National Council for Eurasian and East European Research Short-Term Travel Grant for research in Georgia.

Professional Organization Memberships

• Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Languages

• Bulgarian (intermediate reading)
• English (native)
• French (advanced reading and intermediate speaking)
• Georgian (novice)
• German (intermediate reading and speaking)
• Russian (near-native)