ROBERT PORTER

Date and place of birth - May 2 1946, London

Marital status - Married, with two daughters

Education: 1957-1964 Harold Hill Grammar School

1964-1968 Undergraduate at Leeds University, Department of Russian Studies. Graduated with First Class Honours

1969-1970 Postgraduate research at Leeds

1993 Ph.D. Bristol University, awarded for academic

Career: 1968-9 Teacher of English and technical translator in Czechoslovakia

1970-December 1973 Lecturer in Russian language and literature, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth

January 1974- Lecturer in Russian language and literature, Bristol University

1989 Promoted to Senior Lecturer

1999 Promoted to Personal Chair in Slavonic Studies, University of Bristol

Appointed to Chair of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Glasgow

2005 Retired from Glasgow, in the wake of threatened staff cuts and departmental closure

2005-7 Part-time teaching in the Universities of Bristol and Bath

2007 Autumn Term Visiting Professor at the University of Columbia, New York

Guest Lectures: I have lectured by invitation regularly at conferences in Britain and abroad, usually in English, occasionally in Russian or Czech. University departments where I have given papers over the years include: SSEES, LSE, Swansea, Belfast, Lancaster, collegiate conference for the University of Wales, Edinburgh. Paper on Petrushevskaya at the BASSEES conference in March 1994; Paper on Exiles in literature (English, Czech, Russian) for an Igor Hájek memorial conference, Glasgow, 1995; In Nov. 1997 a lecture on Images of the city in Russian liteature at Guildford, Surrey

Lectures abroad include:

Venice Biennale 1977 on Cultural Dissent 'Milan Kundera in Exile' (in English);

Bratislava University, 1985 'Western Perceptions of East European Literature' (in Czech);

Belgrade/Vranje 1985 International Conference on Chekhov, 'Hamlet and The Seagull' (in Russian);

Three conferences held at the Masaryk University Brno, The Czech Republic (1985, 1988, 1993). My contributions (two in Russian and one in Czech) were on Rasputin, Bulgakov and, most recently, on Erofeev, Popov and Limonov;

AAASS Conference in Miami 1991 on Evgeny Popov;

Paper on Contemporary Russian literature to the Canadian Association of Slavists' conference in Calgary, Alberta in June 1994; paper on Popov, SSEES, October 1994

In May 1998 I was invited to participate in the first round of a two-year project at the Masaryk University of Brno to establish a new inter-disciplinary degree programme, involving literature, history and political studies. This involved giving a formal paper and taking part in discussions over three days. (All expenses paid by Brno.)

Teaching: Since I was appointed in January 1974 I have been largely, and at times solely, responsible for the development and teaching of all Twentieth Century Russian Literature courses to final year students. In addition, I have taught - and still teach - Russian language at all levels. I developed a language laboratory course for first year students as soon as I came to Bristol, and several visiting lectrices have happily pirated it for use with their students back in Russia. From 1985, in the wake of the expansion of Russian Studies at Bristol, I have offered two new Special Options to finalists: 1. Town and Country Themes in Contemporary Russian Literature. This course aims at keeping abreast of literary developments in Russia today and is constantly updated. 2. An introduction to Czech language and literature.

For four sessions (1976-1980) I taught the Gogol and Chekhov courses to second year students.

1983-86 I conducted seminars on the then subsidiary course (Approved course) of European literature.

1983-86 I supervised a PhD on Vasily Grossman by Frank Ellis.

1991-97 I surpervised Jacque French for a PhD on T. Tolstaia

I am currently supervising two research students, and am tutor to one MA student.

Over the years I have done a good deal of teaching under the Oxford-London-Birmingham-Bristol consortium arrangements.

From 1975 until about 1988 I taught regularly on extra-mural Russian language courses for the military, GCHQ, MoD.

From 1994 the Department has offered Czech as an Approved Unit.

The two M.A students under my supervision who graduated in early 1994 did so with Commendation; the external examiner was particularly impressed with their dissertations.

Since 1996, in the wake of staff cuts, I have been heavily involved in ab initio language teaching.

Consultancy Work:

1990-91 - Editorial adviser to Bristol Classical Press

Regular refereeing over the years for academic journals (such as The Slavonic and East European Review, Soviet Studies, Canadian Slavonic Papers), major academic and serious fiction publishers (e.g. Methuen, Harvill, Heinemann) - most recently, for example, on:

Deming Brown's The Last Years of Soviet Russian Literature, for CUP:

A detailed proposal for a book on Vaclav Havel's drama and politics for CUP;

Detailed report on the Russian text of Mark Kharitonov's Lines of Fate for Collins/Harvill - I was delighted that I gave this long and complex novel a strong recommendation before it was shortlisted, for, and eventually won, the first Russian Booker prize in 1993.

In the session 1996-7 alone I refereed a scholarly monograph on Karel Čapek for Birmingham Slavonic Monographs, a book in Russian Stamp Album by Andrei Sergeev for Weidenfeld and Nicolson, a novel in Russian Concert Performance by Dezhnev for HarperCollins, and have checked through the Czech translation of Henry Gifford's monograph on Tolstoy at the author's request. I have also refereed a Russian novel The Last Hero by Y. Kabakov for literary agents Elizabeth van Lear.

Publications:

1. AUTHORED BOOKS

i. Milan Kundera - A Voice from Central Europe, Arkona, Denmark, 1981, pp.95

ii. Four Contemporary Russian Writers: A Study of the Works of Rasputin, Aitmatov, Vladimov, Voinovich, Berg, Oxford, 1989, pp.viii + 184

iii. Russia's Alternative Prose, Berg, Oxford, 1994, pp.xiii + 218

iv. Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", Bristol Classical Press, London, 1997, pp. 114.

v. An Introduction to Twentieth-Century Czech Fiction: Comedies of Defiance, Sussex Academic Press, 2001, pp. ix + 209.

2. EDITED BOOKS

i. Understanding Soviet Politics through Literature (with Martin Crouch), Allen and Unwin, 1984, pp. 210

ii. Seven Soviet Poets, anthology with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary, Blackwell, 1988, pp. xxx + 172 (Introduction pp. 30 + texts pp. 106 + annotations pp. 31 + vocabulary pp. 33)

iii. Putem vzaimnoi perepiski by Vladimir Voinovich, with Introduction, Notes, Vocabulary, and translated correspondence, Bristol Classical Press, pp. xiv + 108. (Introduction pp. 14. Notes pp.9 Vocabulary pp.22, Translated correspondence pp. 5.)

iv. Seven Soviet Poets, revised edition, Bristol Classical Press, 2000

3. CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOOKS

i. 'Soviet Perspectives on Socialist Realism' in European Socialist Realism, M. Scriven and D. Tate (eds), Berg, 1988, pp. 49-60

ii. 'Edward Limonov and the Benefit of the Doubt' in Under Eastern Eyes: The West as Reflected in Recent Russian Emigre Writing, Macmillan and SSEES, 1991, pp. 62-75

iii. 'Russia' in The Oxford Guide to Contemporary Writing, ed. John Sturrock, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 321-339. Updated paperback edition 1997 under the title The Oxford Guide to Contemporary World Literature

iv. "Zinovy Zinik's Gothic Suburbia", in Reconstructing the Canon: Russian Writing in the 1980s ed. Arnold McMillin, Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000, pp. 125-145

v. Six 1000-word long contributions to the Reference Guide to Russian Literature ed. by N. Cornwell, 1998, Fitzroy Dearborn, on: Zinovii Zinik (pp. 919-921), The Lord and the Gamekeeper (pp.922-923), Evgenii Popov (pp.659-660), The Soul of a Patriot (p. 661), One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (pp. 774-775) and Cancer Ward (pp. 776-777)

vi. "The Paradoxes of Parody: Notes on the Art of Mikhail Zoshchenko and Evgenii Popov" in Festschrift for Richard Peace, 2008, pp.269-285

4. ARTICLES

1. 'Literature, Politics and the Solzhenitsyn Affair', Modern Languages, Vol. LIII, no. 4 1972, pp. 177-183

2. 'Milan Kundera and The Joke', Trivium, Vol. VIII, 1973, pp. 1-10

3. 'Lyrical Episodes in Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward', Journal of Russian Studies, no. 29, 1975, pp. 3-10

4. 'The Form of Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle', Trivium. Vol. 10, 1975, pp. 19-33

5. 'Freedom is my Love - a critical evaluation of the short stories and novels by the leading Czech writer, Milan Kundera', Index on Censorship, Vol. 4, no. 4, 1975, pp. 41-46

6. 'Irony and Morality in Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward', New Zealand Slavonic Journal, no. 1, 1978, pp. 59-74

7. 'Profile: Georgi Vladimov', Index on Censorship, Vol. 8, no. 5, 1979, pp. 53-55

8. 'Vladimir Voinovich and the Comedy of Innocence', Forum for Modern Language Studies, Vol. XVI, no. 2, 1980. Reprinted in part in Contemporary Literary Criticism, ed. D. Marowski, Gale Research Company, 1988, pp. 377-379

9. 'Hamlet and The Seagull', Journal of Russian Studies, no. 41, 1981, pp. 23-33. (As I understand, also published in French translation. My Russian version of this has, so I believe, also been published in Hungary and what was Yugoslavia.)

10. 'The Mother Theme in Valentin Rasputin', Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. XXVIII, no. 3, 1986, pp. 287-303

11. 'Animal Magic in Solzhenitsyn, Rasputin and Voinovich', Modern Language Review, Vol. 82, 1987, no. 3, pp. 675-684

12. 'Chingiz Aitmatov's The Execution Block: Religion, Opium and The People', Scottish Slavonic Review, no. 8, Spring 1987, pp. 75-90

13. 'Поэтика повести Прощание с Матерой В. Распутина' [The Poetics of the Novella "Farewell to Matera" by V. Rasputin] in Litteraria humanitas: genologické studie, Masarykova univerzita, Brno, 1990, ISBN 80-210-0124-0, pp. 211-220

14. 'Jevgenij Popov and the stagnation of Soviet literature' in Sborník prací filozofické fakulty, Brno university, 1991, ISBN 80-210-0339-1, pp. 115-122

15. 'Ivan Klíma's Other First Loves', in Czechoslovak Central and East European Journal, vol 10, 1991, no. 2, pp. 118-130

16. 'Aitmatov' and 'Voinovich' in Contemporary World Writers, Gale Research International, 1993, pp. 5-7 and 551-553 respectively.

17. 'Свидетельство преображенное в искусство (Проза А.И.Солженицына)' [Testimony Transformed into Art: The Prose of A.I. Solzhenitsyn] in Litteraria humanitas, Brno, 1993, pp. 295-303

18. 'Литература или порнография: Ерофеев, Попов, Лимонов' [Pornography or Literature: Erofeev, Popov, Limonov], Litteraria humanitas, Masarykova univerzita, 1996, pp. 391-398

19. "From Homo Russicus to Homo Sovieticus - and Back Again?", Forum for Modern Language Studies (Special edition on "Masculinities" edited by Mary Orr), 1998, vol. xxxiv No.3, pp.214-225.

20."Exiles in Literature: Traces of the Migrant in Czech, Russian and English Literature”, Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 33, nos 2-4, 1999. pp. 231-44.

21. "The City in Russian Literature: Images Past and Present", Modern Language Review, April 1999, vol.94, no. 2, pp. 476-485.

22. ““Us, We Won’t Die” – Notions of Death and Immortality in Solzhenitsyn”, New Zealand Slavonic Journal, vol. 36, 2002, pp.213-224.

5. TRANSLATIONS

Books

i. (From Danish) Book. The Function of the Grotesque in Vasilij Aksenov, by Per Dalgard, Arkona, 1982, pp. 150

ii. (From Russian) Novel: The Fair at Sokolniki by F. Neznansky, Corgi/Bantam, 1986, pp. 284

iii. (From Russian) Novel: The Soul of a Patriot by Evgeny Popov, with a Preface and Annotations, pp. i-x, pp. 182 and Notes pp. 183-194, Collins/Harvill, 1994. Hardback and paperback versions, Northwestern University Press, 1994

In my view this is much more than a routine translation. The lengthy review in TLS by the novelist and critic Z.Zinik said "Robert Porter's translation, introduction and notes is an impressive creative work in its own right. This Harvill edition is no doubt bound to be regarded as a historical document and a paragon of academic accuracy."

iv. (From Russian) Merry-making in Old Russia, a collection of stories by Evgeny Popov, selected and edited with Preface and Notes by the translator, Harvill, 1996, pp. 200. Revised version for the American market in hardback and paperback for Northwestern University Press, 1997

Articles, Poems, Short Stories

i. (From Czech) 'The Bounds of Silence' by O. Sojka. Index on Censorship, Vol. 5, no. 3, 1976, pp. 34-40. Reprinted in The Times, 21 August, 1976

ii. (From Czech) The Angels by Milan Kundera (A chapter from The Book of Laughter and Forgetting), London Magazine, Vol. 21, 1982, pp. 6-26

iii. (From Russian) Verse translations of Esenin's Rus sovetskaya and Khuligan in The Irish Slavonic Journal, 1982, no. 3, pp. 95-99

iv. (From Russian) Interview with Yuri Lyubimov, with annotations, Index on Censorship, Vol. 14, no. 1, 1985, pp. 55-60

v. (From Russian) 'The Situation' by Evgeny Popov, in Dissonant Voices; The New Russian Fiction, O. Chukhontsev (ed.), Harvill, 1991, pp. 275-287

vi. (From Russian) 'The Blind Fisherman' by Viktor Astafiev, ibid, pp. 351-370

vii. (From Russian) 'I Await a Love That's True', by Evgeny Popov, in Turning the Page, (ed.) C. MacLehose, Harvill, 1993, pp. 263-272

viii. (From Russian) 'How They Ate the Cock' by Evgeny Popov, in The Penguin Book of New Russian Short Writing ed. Victor Erofeyev, 1995, pp. 270-277.

ix. (From Russian) 'A Splendid Sun Shone Golden' by Evgeny Popov, commissioned by Granta for a special edition on Russian fiction. Under consideration.

6. REVIEWS

Over the years I have reviewed, I estimate, about 120 books for learned and popular journals, including: The Higher, Modern Language Review, Slavonic and East European Review, Soviet Studies, Index on Censorship, Scottish Slavonic Review, Irish Slavonic Studies, Journal of European Studies, London Magazine, World Literature Today

Varia

Recordings and Broadcasts:

These include:

Published recording 'Solzhenitsyn's Matryona's House', Exeter tapes, 1979

Published recording 'Sergei Esenin - Khuligan and Rus sovetskaya', Exeter tapes, 1981

BBC Radio 4 programme (30 minutes) on Sholokhov and Bulgakov, 1981, repeated 1982, 1983

BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight, Radio obituary of Mikhail Sholokhov, 1984

BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight, 'The Doctor Zhivago Affair', 1986

Occasional talks, interviews and reviews for Radio 4's Kaleidoscope, and for the World Service

Numerous interviews for BBC Radio Bristol

Publications

These include:

Theatre Programme Notes for Mikhail Bulgakov's Mongrel's Heart, adapted for the stage by Stephen Mulrine, Royal Lyceum Theatre. 8-30 April 1994 (1000 words)

Theatre Programme Notes for Tolstoy by James Goldman for the Theatre Royal, Plymouth 21-30 March 1996 (1000 words)

An occasional "Letter from England" for the Czech literary weekly Tvorba (roughly the equivalent of TLS) 1990-92

I see my main research achievements as being in the area of modern Russian prose fiction. I have brought to the attention of fellow scholars and students the work of a good number of serious writers who have had little written on them. However, my publications have breadth as well as depth; they relate to Czech and Russian literature, poetry as well as prose. My latest book, on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is the only monograph devoted to this key work. I was pleased to see a reference to my first book (on Milan Kundera) described in a recent major monograph on this Czech author as "ground-breaking", and to see the work cited in a recent Czech textbook on Czech literature.

Here are a few comments from reviewers:

i. Of Understanding Soviet Politics through Literature: (co-authored with Martin Crouch) "An intriguing volume...the extracts are nicely translated, introduced and presented...Students of modern Russian civilisation are warmly recommended to purchase, enjoy and profit from this most original book." New Zealand Slavonic Journal 1985 pp. 188-9. Anonymous reviewer.

ii. Of Four Contemporary Russian Writers: "Robert Porter [...] is one of the best informed scholars in the field of modern Russian literature whose wide reading is readily apparent in this book" Prof Arnold McMillin, London University, from confidential reader's report to the publishers, quoted on the fly-jacket with his permission.

iii. Of Russia's Alternative Prose: a) "This book is both scholarly and entertaining - an all too rare combination in Russian studies in the 1990s. Robert Porter made me want to read or reread nearly all the works he discusses." Martin Dewhirst, Glasgow University, from a confidential reader's report to the publishers, quoted on the fly-jacket with his permission.

b) "An impressive and well-armoured animal ... Porter is to be congratulated on a bold and, as used to be said in Soviet times, necessary enterprise. His book helps to make sense of a confusing period of literature, and deserves to be on every library shelf." Prof Arnold McMillin, London University, Slavonic and East European Review, 1996, vol. 1, pp.137-9.

iv. Of my translation of Merry-Making in Old Russia: "Popov, master of the wicked aside, has again, as with The Soul of a Patriot, been brilliantly served by his translator, Robert Porter." Eileen Battersby, Irish Times, 24th August1996.

v. Professor Alexis Klimoff (Vassar College, New York), a Western scholar whom Solzhenitsyn holds in the highest regard, has written to me (personal letter 26.9.97.) on Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: "You are extremely thorough in your discussion of translations...the Overview of Critical Responses section is highly useful... Part Two has many fine insights. I note your excellent point about the "perception gap"... Your book is a major contribution." Reviews of the work include the following: 1. "Porter's comprehensive study [...] accompanied by an impressive scholarly apparatus, extensive bibliography and index, not only provides all necessary background information, but also further develops new essential aspects [...] this book will be especially apealing to college students and specialists [..] overall, a first-rate study which should be included in every research library." Canadian Slavonic Papers; 2. "Porter's book is most valuable for students and general readers [...] it is also extremely useful for literary scholars." Slavic and East European Journal.; 3. "A very useful companion [...] this book can and should be recommended to all non-Russians who are studying One Day, whether in the original or in translation." Slavonic and East European Review.

vi. An anonymous reader's report for Modern Language Review on my latest article "The City in Russian Literature: Images Past and Present" by someone who clearly does not know me (or at least my gender!): "The article succeeds admirably [...] The article is eminently readable and is written with a certain panache. The author impresses with the scope of his/her material. S/he appears to have an excellent command of the literary texts analysed in detail, and makes judicious use of non-literary sources (population statistics etc) to back up his/her points."

vii. Reviewers' comments to be used on the back cover of the revised edition of Seven Soviet Poets:

"Seven Soviet Poets is invaluable for encouraging students to get to grips with reading the poems in the original." Wendy Rosslyn, University of Nottingham.

"Seven Soviet Poets can be warmly recommended for use at school or university. There are some splendid poems to read or re-read [...] The book may serve as a stepping stone towards further exploration of the riches of Russian poetry." Journal of Russian Studies

"Highly useful [...] Helpful commentary. Porter is to be congratulated for his succinct, yet highly informative, introduction in which he sums up very well the development of Soviet poetry as well as giving insightful sketches of the poets [...] The student of modern Russian literature will find this anthology, containing some of the very best of twentieth-century Russian poetry, extremely valuable and the teacher, too, will be pleased to have such a well-prepared source of texts to work from." New Zealand Slavonic Journal.