Associate Professor and Chair of Russian Studies
Specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature and culture
Humanities 206
651-696-6587
[email protected]
SELECTED WORKS OF JULIA CHAGADA in the Macalester Digital Commons
Education: B.A. in English Literature, Wesleyan University (1993); Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University (2003)
Areas of Interest: Prof. Chadaga’s work brings together such fields as Russian literature from the 18th century up through the present day, visual art, architecture, film, material culture, and the history of science. She has written and published on topics that include the relationship between religious discourse and electric light in the early Soviet period; mirrors as windows on Russian culture; illusion and ideology in Soviet subterranean spaces; aviation as a source for the visual experiments of the Russian avant-garde; and the relationship between art and crime in Chekhov and Nabokov.
Publications: Prof. Chadaga has published in the journals Russian Review, Slavic Review, and Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature. She has an essay in the edited volume Rites of Place: Public Commemoration in Russia and Eastern Europe. Her book Optical Play: Glass, Vision, and Spectacle in Russian Culture (Northwestern University Press, 2014) was shortlisted for the Historia Nova Prize for Best Book on Russian Intellectual and Cultural History.
Current Projects: She is currently working on two projects: a book on the intersections of creativity and crime in 19th and 20th century Russia, and a digital project on Russian material culture.
Personal: She enjoys creative writing, making mosaics, and exploring nature with her family.