Vadim Besprozvany, Ph.D, born in the Ukraine, is Lecturer in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Dr. Besprozvany's academic background is extensive and covers diverse areas of Russian literature. His master’s work focused on early 19th century Russian literary process with particular focus on Nikolai Karamzin, and Nikolai Gogol, and also included courses in the history of Russian literature, semiotics, linguistic and literary theory. For four years he participated in the seminar taught by Yuri M. Lotman.

The combination of interests in linguistics and literature led him to continue his academic work at the University of Michigan, where he focused on Russian literature of the Silver Age, and on the acquisition and development of higher-level teaching skills.

Extensive research in the Russian-Ukrainian literary connections and the phenomenon of bilingualism resulted in Dr. Besprozvany's dissertation Vladimir Narbut's "Alleluia": Poetics of Linguistic and Cultural Bilingualism, successfully defended in August 2006.

Dr. Besprozvany's other projects have included studies on LEF, Literature of Fact, and Il'f and Petrov's works. These projects found their reflection in a number of papers presented at AAASS and the University of Michigan Slavic Symposium. As a part of his research on Il’f and Petrov he co-organized the exhibition Soviet Writers, American Images: Il’f and Petrov Tour the United State, 1935-36, shown at the University of Michigan, Colgate University, and Cornell University.

• From Non-Conformism to New Imperial Classicism: Contemporary Russian Culture through Literature, Visual Art and Cinema.
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