Vadim V. Polonsky
DSc in Philology,
Director of A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IWL RAS),
Corresponding member of the RAS,
Education:
Graduated from the Philology Department of the Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1994 cum laude. Qualification awarded: “Philologist. Teacher of the Russian Language and Literature. Teacher of the French Language in Institutions of Secondary and Higher Education”
Completed Postgraduate studies at the Chair of the Twentieth Century Russian Literary History, Philology Department, Moscow State University (1994–1997). Defended the PhD thesis on Biographical Genre in the Work of Dmitry Merezhkovsky, 1920–1930s in 1998 (Specialty: 10.01.01. – Russian Literature)
Defended the Habilitation thesis on Mytho-poetical Aspects of the Generic Evolution in Russian Literature at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries in 2008 (Specialties: 10.01.01. – Russian Literature; 10.01.08 – Theory of literature. Textual criticism)
Since 1998, works in IWL RAS. Senior Researcher (1998–2006). Since 2006, Head of the Department of Russian Literature at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries. From 2010 until December 2015 – Deputy Director for Academic Work, since December 2015–present – Director of IWL RAS
In 2016 was elected Professor of the RAS, in 2019 – Corresponding member of the RAS
Research interests:
Specialist in Russian literature at the turn of 19th –20th Centuries, comparative studies and literary theory, in particular, poetics of the genre, the problem of literary neomythology. Is author of over 200 academic publications edited in Russia, the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland, China, South Korea, Turkey, Bulgaria, Montenegro et al.
Professional service:
Head of the projects supported by Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund, “House of the Sciences of Man” Fund (Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme) (Paris, France) and other national and foreign scientific funds
Grant holder of the Russian President Foundation for support of young scientists (2011–2012)
Head of numerous projects within the framework of fundamental research programs of the Russian Academy of Sciences Department of Historical and Philological Sciences and of the Presidium of RAS: “Creation of the Information Resource “Chronicles of Russian Literature at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries” (Program of the RAS Department of Historical and Philological Sciences “Language and Information Technology”, 2015 – 2017); “Traditionalists and Modernists in the Literary Process of Russia of the 1900s–Early 1920s” (Program of the RAS Department of Historical and Philological Sciences “Language and Literature in the Context of Cultural Dynamics”, 2012 – 2014); “Reception of the National Classics in Russian Literature at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries” (Program of the Presidium of RAS “Historical and Cultural Heritage and Spiritual Values of Russia”, 2009 – 2011); “Poetics of Russian Literature at the Turn of the 19th –20th Centuries. Dynamics of the Genre: Poetry, Drama” (Program of the RAS Department of Historical and Philological Sciences “Russian Culture in the World History”, 2006 – 2008); “Mythopoetics and Dynamics of the Genre Development in Russian Literature at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries” (Program of the Presidium of RAS “Adaptation of the People and Cultures to the Natural, Social and Technogenic Changes”, 2006 – 2008)
Presented his papers at academic forums, scientific conferences and seminars in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, China, India, Finland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Montenegro, etc. Was invited to give lectures at different universities in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, China and Czech Republic
Head of Academic Council, IWL RAS; Member of the dissertation councils at IWL RAS and Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH)
Editor-in-Chief of the journal Izvestiâ Rossijskoj akademii nauk. Seriâ literatury i âzyka (Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Studies in Literature and Language); Member of Editorial Board of the Academic collection of the Complete works of M. Gorky; Member of the Editorial Board and Editorial Council of the scholarly journals Russian Literature, Studia Litterarum, Literary Fact, Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 9. Philology, Russica Romana et al., of IWL RAS Scholarly Series Literary Heritage, of the edited collections (academic editions of the Complete works by A. Blok, L. Andreev et al.)
Member of the Presidential Council on the Russian Language. Member of the Expert Council of the Higher Accreditation Committee (VAK) of Russian Federation in the field of philology and art studies (until January 2016; left the Council due to the appointment as Director of IWL RAS); 2013–2018 – Member of the Expert Group in Literature and Art at the Scientific Council 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 Council of “Olympiads” in high schools
Distinctions and awards:
Honorary professor and Honoris causa degree at the South-Western University of China (2017)
Honoris causa degree at Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (2018)
Winner of the contest of the Foundation for the Promotion of National Science in the nomination “PhDs and Doctors Hab. of RAS” (2006)
Teaching activities:
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 (RSUH)
Selected scientific publications
Monographs
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Gallo-Rossica: From the History of Russian-French Literary Connections (Late 18th – Early 20th Centuries). Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019. (In Russ.)
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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.)
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Mythopoetics 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 books (2015–2020)
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“Complex Integrity” of Literature. Materials and Research. In the Honor of V.A. Keldysh, ed. V.V. Polonsky, comp. V.M. Vvedenskaia, E.V. Glukhova, M.V. Koz'menko. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019. 528 p. (In Russ.)
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Barbusse H. Jesus Against God. Creators, comm. A.F. Stroev, executive ed. V.V.Polonsky. Serie Rossica. Russia and the West. Literary connections and Contacts. Vol. 1. Moscow, Litfakt Publ., 2019. 280 p. (In Russ.)
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Literary Life. Articles. Publications. Memoirs. In Memoriam A. Galushkin, ed. Polonsky V.V., comp. M.P. Odesskii, M.L. Spivak. Biblioteka «Literaturnogo nasledstva». Novaia seriia. Issue 1. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017. 400 p. (In Russ.)
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The Russian Revolution of 1917 in Literary Sources and Documents, ed. Polonsky. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017. 440 p. (In Russ.)
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The 1917 Rupture: Revolutionary Context of Russian Literature. Materials and Research, ed. by V.V. Polonsky. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017. 864 p.
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Russian Literature in the Mirrors of World Culture: Reception, Translations, and Interpretations, ed., comp. by M.F. Nad’iarnykh, V.V. Polonsky, ex. ed. A.B. Kudelin. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2015. 974 p. (In Russ.)
Selected Essays
- “‛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.
- “‛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.)
- “To the V. Keldysh’s Anniversary.” “Complex Integrity” of Literature. Materials and Research. In the Honor of V.A. Keldysh. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019, pp. 6–12. (In Russ.)
- “‘We see Him as Revolutionary’: I. Bunin Through the Eyes of the French Communists of the 1920–1930s.” “Complex Integrity” of Literature. Materials and Research. In the Honor of V.A. Keldysh. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019, pp. 253–266. (In Russ.)
- “D.S. Merezhkovskii and Ammianus Marcellinus: Transformation of the Historical Source in Julian the Apostate.” Dynamic Poetics and Poetic Dynamics: Collection of Articles in Honor of D.M. Magomedova, comp., ed. V.B. Zuseva-Ozkan, V.Ia. Malkina. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019, pp. 231–237. (In Russ.)
- “Dmitri Merejkovski et le comte Maurice Prozor.” Les Intellectuels russes à la conquête de l’opinion publique française. Une histoire alternative de la littérature russe en France de Cantemir à Gorki. Sous la direction d’Alexandre Stroev. Paris, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2019, pp. 317–329. (In Russ.)
- “The Legacy of Solzhenitsyn as a Phenomenon of Culture and an Object of Scientific Comprehension.” Vestnik Rossiiskoi akademii nauk, vol. 89, no. 3, 2019, pp. 215–220. (In Russ.)
- “On Gorky, Modernist Culture and Humanism Crisis.” From Chekhov to Brodsky: Aesthetic and Philosophical Aspects of the XX Century Russian Literature, ed. Zykova G.V., Kormilov S.I.; comp. E.A. Korshunova. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta Publ., 2019, pp. 11–27. (In Russ.)
- “Formation of the Literary Reputation of D. Merezhkovsky in France in the Early XX Century in Archival and Print Documents.” French and Francophone Chronicles in Russia of the XVIII-Early XX Centuries, ed. E.E. Dmitrieva, A.V. Golubkov. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019 pp. 425–460. (In Russ.)
- “Synergetic Models in the Academic Literary History Construction.” Physics and Lyrics. Proceedings of the International Conference “Physics and Lyrics: World Experience and Realities of Science and Literature in the States of the Commonwealth. Baku, Elm Publ., 2019, pp. 24–26. (In Russ.)
- “Men of Letters of Polish Origin as Cultural Mediators Between Russia and France at the Turn of the 20th Century: The Case of T. Wyżewski.” Vestnik slavianskikh kul'tur, vol. 48, 2018, pp. 161–178. (In Russ.)
- “Apocalypticism and Sacred Codes as Mirrored in Literature of the 1917 Russian Revolution.” Izvestiia RAN. Ser. literatury i iazyka, vol. 77, no. 1, 2018, pp. 12–17. (In Russ.)
- “‘The Truth That the Reader So Longed for’ On the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician A.I. Solzhenitsyn.” Izvestiia RAN. Ser. literatury i iazyka, vol. 88, no. 6, 2018, pp. 521–530. (Co-authored with Moskovskaia, D.S., Arias-Vikhil', M.A.). (In Russ.)
- “Chiliastic Transformation of the New Testament Imagery in the Later Historiosophic Works by D.S. Merezhkovsky.” New Testament Images and Plots in Culture of the Russian Modernism. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2018, pp. 400–421. (In Russ.)
- “Epistolary as a Mean of the Formation of the Literary Reputation of a Russian Writer in Europe: D. Merezhkovskii and Count Maurice Prozor.” Textological Chronicle. XX Century Russian Literature: Problems of Textology and Source Studies. Book 3: Epistolary and Diaries in the Russian Literary Heritage of the XX Century. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2018, pp. 689–700. (In Russ.)
- “Maksim Gorky in Russian and World Culture of the XX Century.” Re-reading Gorky. Gorky and His Work. Collection of Essays on the 150th Anniversary of M. Gorky. Seul, 2018, pp.431– (Co-authored with Moskovskaia, D.S., Arias-Vikhil', M.A.). (In Russ.)
- “Introduzione.” I Dodici di Blok nella storia e nella critica. Per il Centenario della pubblicazione del poema (1918-2018). A cura di Giuseppina Giuliano e Andrej Chichkin. Roma, Salerno, Centro Studi V. Ivanov di Roma Publ., 2018, pp. 7–10. (In Italian)
- “Humanism of Maksim Gorky – a Writer and Public Figure at 150 (Paris, 2 October; Naples, 25-26 October; Sorrento, 27 October, 2018).” Vestnik Rossiiskogo fonda fundamental'nykh issledovanii. Gumanitarnye i obshchestvennye nauki, no. 4 (93), 2018, pp.176–(Co-authored with Moskovskaia, D.S., Arias-Vikhil', M.A.) (In Russ.)
- “Leftist French Press on Ivan Bounine: The Writer’s Literary Reputation Forming in the 1920s – 1930s.”. Filologicheskii klass, 4 (54), 2018, pp.22–28. (In Russ.)
- “Preface.” Sorento Pravda: Album: to the 150th Anniverary of the Birth of Maksim Gorky, ed. by D.S. Moskovskaia, V.V. Polonsky. Moscow, Verona, Poznaem Evraziiu Publ., 2018. P. 6. (In Russ.)
- “M. Karamzin and the West: Letters of a Russian Traveler.” Works of the RAS Department of Historical and Philological Sciences, ed. by V.A. Tishkov. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2017, pp. 94–103. (In Russ.)
- “Sacramental and Historic Layers in the Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Journalist Discourse on WWI (Concerning the “Slavic Issue” in Symbolism).” Europa Orientalis. Dialettica tra contingenza storica e valore universale in Vjačeslav Ivanov. X Convegno internazionale. A cura di Maria Pliukhanova e Andrei Shishkin. Salerno, Edizioni Culturali Internazionali, 2017, pp. 161–166. (In Russ.)
- “Russian Revolution in Literary Reflections: Background and Prerequisites. Foreword.” The Russian Revolution of 1917 in Literary Sources and Documents. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017, pp.3–7. (In Russ.)
- “Concerning the Problem of the Construction of Russian Literary History at the Turn of XIX-XX Centuries and Typological Peculiarities of the Silver Age.” Gap and Connection of Times. Problems of Studying Literature at the Turn of the XIX-XX Centuries. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017, pp. 54–63. (In Russ.)
- “Mythologization and Experimental Archaization of Poetics in Russian Prose at the Turn of the XIX-XX Centuries.” Gap and Connection of Times. Problems of Studying Literature at the Turn of the XIX-XX Centuries. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017 pp. 766–799. (In Russ.)
- “Russian Literature and Philosophy at the Turn of the XIX-XX Centuries: Dialogue, Intersections, Synthesis.” Papers of the Chinese Association of the Russian Literary Studies “Russian Literature and Russian Thought”, November 10-13, 2017. Chuntsin. Chuntsin, Iugo-Zapadnyi universitet (KNR) Publ., 2017, pp. 53–54. (In Russ.)
- “The Russian Revolution in the Reflections of the Domestic Literature: the Background and Prerequisites of Catastrophic Aestheticization of History.” Proceedings of the V International Conference in Memoriam Professor L. Andreev Facets of the ХXth Сentury: Literature and Revolution, 21–23 June, 2017. Available at: http://www.philol.msu.ru/~modern/index.php?page=1197. (In Russ.)
- “Fedor Sologub.” History of the Silver Age of Russian Literature (1890s–early 1920-s. Part 2: Symbolism. Coursebook for Undergraduate and Graduate, ed. by M.V. Mikhailova, N.M. Solntseva. Moscow, Iurait Publ., 2017,109–133. (In Russ.)
- “M. Voloshin.” History of the Silver Age of Russian Literature (1890s–early 1920-s. Part 2: Symbolism. Coursebook for Undergraduate and Graduate, ed. by M.V. Mikhailova, N.M. Solntseva. Moscow, Iurait Publ., 2017, pp. 213–227. (In Russ.)
- “Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the 1847-1854s in History of Russian Science.” Ahead of the Russian Palestina. Chronicle of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. 1847–1854, comp. M.I. Shcherbakova. Jerusalem, Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017, pp. 12– (In Russ.)
- “Preface.” Russia and Scandinavia: Literary Interactions at the Turn of the XIX-XX Centuries. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017, pp. 7–11. (Co-authored with Takho-Godi, E.A.). (In Russ.)
- “Art Historian at the Fracture of History: Revolution Through the Eyes of A. Levinson.” The 1917 Rupture: Revolutionary Context of Russian Literature. Materials and Research. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017, pp. 758– (In Russ.)
- “Andrei Levinson. Contemporary Russian Literature. War – Revolution – Exile.” The 1917 Rupture: Revolutionary Context of Russian Literature. Materials and Research, comm., transl. by V. Polonsky. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2017, pp. 772– (In Russ.)
- “Russian 1917 Revolution in the Literary Sources.” Vestnik Rossiiskogo fonda fundamental'nykh issledovanii. Gumanitarnye i obshchestvennye nauki, no. 4 (89), 2017, pp. 9–24. (Co-authored with Vvedenskaia, V.M., Glukhova, E.V., Koz'menko, M.V.). (In Russ.)