Background
Sidney Dement likes to design courses that showcase the interdisciplinary nature of Russian Studies. In "Moscow and Petersburg," he examines Russia's capitals through the lenses of history, architecture, urban studies, and literature. In "Slavic Folklore," students learn the folk tales, healing rituals, and archaic beliefs of the Slavs while also learning the methods of folkloristics, a discipline that draws heavily from anthropology, history and literature. In addition to courses in Russian Studies, Dement also teaches students to speak, understand, read and write the Russian language a useful skillset to have in many social and professional settings.
(University of Toronto Press) unpacks the allusive history of Russia's most famous monument to her greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin. The Monument is simultaneously a poem, a statue, and a performative space. Analyzing the interpenetration of these three dimensions tells the story of one of Russia's significant aesthetic objects while at the same time making discoveries about the works of the poets, novelists, sculptors and theoreticians who conceptualized and transformed it. In shorter publications, Dement explores other dimensions of the intersection of verbal and visual culture. For example, in one essay he explains why the architecture of the banya is significant for interpreting Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. In another essay, he interprets Borislav Peki's novel, How to Quiet a Vampire, by unraveling the visual, philosophical and literary dimensions of what might otherwise seem like a quite ordinary umbrella.
Pushkin's Monument and Allusion has been reviewed in , , and .
Select Publications
- 2023. " Russian Language Journal 73.2: 23-34.
- 2018. 竄邽迮郕訄 郕訄郕 郈邽迮邾: 衪迮邽郕訄 邽 邽訄迮郅郕郋迮 赲郋郈邽邽迮 郋郋訇郇郕訄 訄迣訄邽罈. 苠赲郋迮赲郋 . 郅迣訄郕郋赲訄: Pro et contra. . . 郋迣迡訄郇郋赲訄, 迮迡訄郕郋. 苤訄郇郕-迮迮訇迣: 郱迡-赲郋 苭. ["Architecture as Device: The Aesthetics and Reader Reception of Margarita's Mansion." The Works of M. Bulgakov: Pro et Contra. O. A. Bogdanova, ed. Saint Petersburg, Russia: Russian Christian Humanities Academy Press.] (in press)
- 2016. "Architectural Details from Moscow's Sandunov Banyas in M.A. Bulgakov's Master and Margarita." Slavic and East European Journal 60.1 (Spring 2016): 87-105.
- 2015. "The Lifelike Statues of Ovid and Pushkin's Orthodoxy." Pushkin Review 18-19 (2015-2016): 85-105. Invited for re-publication in Russian as: 竄邽郱郇迮郈郋迡郋訇邽迮 訄邿 赲邽迡邽 邽 郈訄赲郋郅訄赲邽迮 郕邽郇訄罈. 郋迣邽 邽 郈迮郈迮郕邽赲 郕訄邽迮郕郋邿 迮郋邽邽. 苠. . 赲郋赲邽, 迮迡訄郕郋. 郋郅訄, 苤迮迡郅迮: 郱迡-赲郋 迮赲迮郇郇郋-迣邾訄郇邽訄郇郋迣郋 郇邽赲迮邽迮訄 赲 苤迮迡郅迮, 2018: 168-190.
- 2012. "Umbrellas, Dialectic, and Dialogue in Borislav Peki's How to Quiet a Vampire." Slavic and East European Journal 56.2 (Summer 2012): 153-72.
Education
- MA, PhD, University of Kansas
- BA, MidAmerica Nazarene University
Research Interests
- Alexander Pushkin
- Mikhail Bulgakov
- Moscow-Tartu Semiotics
- Intellectual and Cultural History
- Slavic Folklore
Teaching Interests
- Slavic Folklore
- Moscow and St. Petersburg
- Russian Culture and Civilization
- Activism in Russia
- Stalingrad
- Russian Language