Michael Wachtel
My main research interests are in Russian poetry (from the eighteenth century to the present), poetics, and Russo-German literary relations. Broadly speaking, I study the ways that Russian poets borrow and creatively adapt the work of their predecessors and contemporaries (both Russian and Western European). My undergraduate courses are usually on Russian poetry (for students who know Russian) and sometimes on Russian prose (with readings in English). My graduate courses — which are also open to advanced undergraduates — include Pushkin, Russian Symbolism, and a seminar on the evolution of Russian poetic form. I am also affiliated with the Department of Comparative Literature.
Undergraduate courses taught:
Survey of Russian literature in translation
Topics in Russian Literature:
- Russian Twentieth-Century Poetry
- Russian Nineteenth-Century Poetry
- Russian and Emigre Poetry
Survey of Russian Poetry
Pushkin and his Time
Freshman seminar - The Language of Totalitarianism
Writing seminar - Totalitarian Literature and Culture
Graduate courses taught:
Evolution of Russian Poetic Form
Russian Literature of the Eighteenth Century
Pushkin
Russian Symbolism
The "Poema"
19th century poetry
Golden Age/Silver Age
Contemporary Russian poetry
This first full-length account of the Russian verse tradition shows how certain formal features are associated with certain genres and specific themes. Keeping technical terms to a minimum and providing English translations of all quotations, Michael Wachtel offers close readings of poems by more than fifty poets from Pushkin to Brodsky, and demonstrates the practical interpretive value of paying attention to poetic form. Ultimately, his book is an inquiry into the nature of literary...
