Vadim V. Polonsky

Вадим Владимирович Полонский

DSc in Philology, Corresponding Member of RAS

RAS professor

Director of IWL RAS

Head of the Department of Russian Literature of the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, IWL RAS

Education:

Graduated from the Philology Department of the Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1994, cum laude; graduated from the graduate school at the Chair of the Twentieth Century Russian Literary History, Philology Department, Moscow State University: 1994–1997.

PhD thesis:

Biographical Genre in the Work of Dmitry Merezhkovsky, 1920–1930s (1998)

DSc (Hab.) thesis:

Mytho-poetical Aspects of the Generic Evolution in Russian Literature at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (2008)

Research interests: Russian literature at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, reception history of Russian literature abroad at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, comparative studies, Russian and French literary ties, literature and philosophy, literary theory, poetics of the genre, literary neomythology.

Professional Service

Editor-in-Chief of the journal Izvestia RAN (Literary and Language series)

Chief Editor, Complete Works of A.M. Gorky (Letters), academic edition

Member of the Editorial Board, Complete Works of Alexander Blok, academic edition

Member of the Editorial Board, Complete Works of Leonid Andreev

Head of Academic Counsel, IWL RAS

Member of the dissertation counsels at IWL RAS and Russian State University for the Humanities

Member of the expert counsel of the Higher Accreditation Committee (VAK) of Russian Federation in the field of philology and art studies (until January 2016; left the Counsel due to the appointment as Director of IWL RAS)

Member of the Expert Group in Literature and Art at the Scientific Counsel at the Ministry of Education of Russian Federation

Accredited Expert of the Federal Register of scientific and technical experts

Reviewer in RAS

Reviewer in Russian Scientific Fund

Co-chair of the Expert Committee in literature at the Russian counsel of “Olympiads” in high schools

Awards and distinctions

Honorary Professor of the South-Western University of China

Grant holder of the Russian President Foundation for support of young scientists (2011–2012)

Winner of the contest of the Foundation for the Promotion of National Science in the nomination PhDs and Doctors Hab. of RAS (2006)

 

Academic publications — 182 publications, including 2 monographs and 8 edited collections.

Selected publications

Monographs 

  • Between Tradition and Modernism. Russian Literature at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: History, Poetics, and Context. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2011. In Russ.
  • Mythopetics and Dynamics of the Genre Development in Russian Literature at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2008. In Russ. '

Edited collections

  • The 1917 Rupture: Revolutionary Context of Russian Literature. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017. In Russ.
  • October Revolution in Literary Texts and Documents. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017. In Russ.
  • Literary Life. Essays. Publications. Memoir. In Memory of Alexander Yu. Galushkin. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017. In Russ.
  • Russian Literature in the Mirrors of the World Culture: Reception, Translations, Interpretation. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2015. In Russ.
  • Politics and Poetics: Russian Literature in the Historical and Cultural Context of the WWI. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2014. In Russ.
  • Russian Journalism and Periodical Literature in the Time of the WWI: Politics and Poetics. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2014. In Russ.
  • Poetics of Russian Literature at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Dynamics of the Genre. General Issues. Fiction. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2009. In Russ.
  • Russian Literature at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in the Mirror of Contemporary Research. In the Honor of V.A. Keldysh. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2008. In Russ.

Selected essays

  • “‛The Fall of Paris’ as ‛the End of Modernism’: Eschatology, War and Ilya Ehrenbourg in a Succession of Cultural Mirrors.” Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 82, no. 5, pp. 5–14. DOI 10.31857/S160578800028322-0. In Russ. 
  • “Dostoevsky, or ‛the Writer Who Reformed a Human Being…’.” Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 80, no. 6, 2021, pp. 15–19. DOI: 10.31857/S241377150017845-2. In Russ.
  • “The Problems of Making Academic History of Russian Literature at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” The National Histories of Russian Literature, ed. Liu Wenfei. Beijing, People’s Oriental Publishing and Media, The Oriental Press, 2017, pp. 13–36. In English
  • “Russian 1917 Revolution in the Literary Sources.” Vestnik RFFI. Gumanitarnye i obshchestvennye nauki., vol. 89, no. 4, 2017, pp. 9–24 (Co-authored with Vvedenskaya V.M., Glukhova E.V., Kozmenko M.V.). In Russ.
  • “Modernist Period, or the ‛Silver Age’ in Russian Literature: Typological Originality in the European Context.” Literary World of Modernism and Modernism in World Literature. Shanghai, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2016, pp. 119–125. In Russ.
  • “On the Typological Specificity of Russian Symbolism within European Modernist Culture.” Mirgorod. Section de langues slaves de l'Université de Lausanne, Instytut Neofilologii i Badań Interdyscyplinarnych UPH w Siedlcach. Lausanne – Siedlce, vol. 7, no. 1, 2016, pp. 13–23. In Russ.
  • “Russian Dante in the end of the Nineteenth – early Twentieth Century: Classical Phenomenon in Reception and Interpretation before and after the Revolution.” Literaturovedchesky Zhurnal, no. 37, 2015, pp. 111–130. In Russ.
  • “On the Typology of Reception of Symbolism in Russia and in France (In Reference to the Parisian Debates of 1929–1931).” Izvestiia RAN. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 73, no. 1, 2014, pp. 3–14. In Russ.
  • “Les discussions sur le symbolism dans le Studio franco-russe à Paris (1929–1931).” Ontologie et gnoseologie de la methode comparatiste. Мoscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2014, pp. 308–401. In French
  • “Knut Hamsun and Leonid Andreyev (In the Context of Reception of the Work of the Norwegian Author in the Silver-Age Russia).” Izvestiia RAN. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 70, no. 4, 2011, pp. 9–30. In Russ.
  • “Hundred Years After, or Gogol in 1909: The Author’s Centenary as Reflected in Russian Newspapers.” Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, vol. 103, no. 3, 2010, pp. 152–163. In Russ.

Scopus, Web of Science

  • “‛Modern Classicism’, or Russian literature in Dialogue with the World.” Novyi mir, no. 7, 2023, pp. 178–183. In Russ. 
  • “Geopoetics of the Art Nouveau Era: Southern Italy Through the Eyes of Russian Authors of the Late 19th — Early 20th Century.” Lomonosov Philology Journal. Series 9. Philology, no. 3, pp. 89–106. In Russ. 
  • “Newspapers and Reviews as Means of Constructing D.S. Merezhkovskii's Literary Reputation in Europe at the Turn of the 20th Century.” Russian Literature, vol. 120–121, 2021, pp. 47–70. DOI: 10.1016/j.ruslit.2021.05.003. In English
  • “The National and the Universal in the Work of the First Russian Nobel Prize Winner in Literature the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Honorary Academician I.A. Bunin.” Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 90, no. 6, 2020, pp. 789–799. DOI: 10.1134/S1019331620060295. In English
  • “Documented History of the ‛World Literature’ Publishing House: Financial Aspect (1918–1921).” Studia Litterarum, vol. 5, no. 4, 2020, pp. 374–393. (Co-authored with Arias-Vikhil M.A). DOI: 10.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-4-374-393. In Russ.
  • “Men of Letters of Polish Origin as Cultural Mediators between Russia and France at the Turn of the XX Century: the Case of T. Wyżewski.” Vestnik slavianskikh kul'tur, vol. 48, 2018, pp. 161–178. In Russ.
  • 瓦基姆·波隆斯基;刘文飞 作为“阐释病”的经院派文艺学—兼论学科界线的悖论性 “Scholastic Literary Studies as a ‛Disease of Interpretation’, and Ambiguous Boundaries of the Discussions about Science.” 文艺研究, Literature & Art Studies, Beijing, no. 8, 2016, pp. 26–30. (Сo-authored with Lu Venfey). In Chinese
  • “The Academic History of Literature and Art as a ‛Disease of Interpretation’: on the Paradoxical Nature of Interdisciplinary Boundaries.” Social Sciences in China, vol. 37, no. 3, 2016, pp. 168–174. In English
  • “Boris Eihenbaum and Paul Claudel: On the Reception of Symbolist Mystery in Russia.” Russkaya Literatura, vol. 3, 2015, pp. 227–234. In Russ.
  • “On the Principles of Structuring the History of Russian Literature of the Late Nineteenth and First Half of the Twentieth Centuries.” Social Sciences, vol. 41, no. 1, 2010, pp. 62–71. In English
  • “Between Metaphysics, History and Politics: Religious Mythology in the Late Literary Works of Dmitry Merezhkovsky.” Social Sciences, vol. 37, no. 3, 2006, pp. 33–44. In English

 

Teaching experience

Taught at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Tikhon Orthodox State University; Professor at the Department of Russian Classical Literature of the Russian State University for the Humanities (2004–2016).

Was invited to give lectures at different universities in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and China.