THE BOOK OF POEMS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY ... - TopReferat

Acknowledgements
When I arrived at Princeton, I never imagined that I would end up taking a formal
approach to Russian poetry—I had no idea what such a thing was. I would like to thank
the faculty of the Slavic Department for introducing me to many new ways of thinking. I
am grateful to Olga Hasty for her wonderful classes on poetry, to Caryl Emerson for a
humane (if painful, at the time) introduction to literary theory and its application to all
types of literature, and to Charles Townsend for the maze of Czech grammar and the onestem
verb system. Thanks also to Professors Ermolaev and Chances for their insight into
Soviet and post-Soviet writing, and to Natasha Reed and David Freedel. I cannot
imagine a more supportive environment in which to learn and write.
Particular thanks, of course, go to my advisor, Michael Wachtel, for his generosity with
both his ideas and time. Even when it took me months (sometimes approaching years) to
send him new material, he would respond with thoughtful comments within days, if not
hours. Such a combination of kindness, practicality and intelligence is rare—I feel very
lucky to have benefited from it.
I would also like to thank the community of Slavic graduate students at Princeton who
challenged me intellectually and became great friends in the process. I am particularly
grateful to Anne and Grady Caswell Klein, Julia Zarankin, Cole Crittenden, Sharon
Lubkemann Allen, Brian Stimmler, Inna Mezhdibovskaya and Maryl and John Hallett. I
owe my dissertation topic to my friend Mirande Bissell and my current job to Luda and
Jim Lavine. Thank you!
I have also been fortunate in my relationships outside of Princeton. At Wellesley, I
would like to thank Tom Hodge, Adam Weiner and Alla Epsteyn for their support and
patience with this project. Tom and Adam were kind enough to read and comment
extensively on my Khodasevich chapter, and Alla was a great help in moments of
linguistic crisis. I would also like to thank Jim Kodera for his insight into the Buddhist
features of Shvarts's book.
Thanks also to Stephanie Sandler who welcomed me into her seminar on contemporary
Russian poetry at Harvard and aided me greatly in my study of Shvarts. Special thanks to
Elena Shvarts, herself, who kindly answered questions about her work in several email
correspondences.
Finally, I would like to thank the home front. Immeasurable thanks to my parents who
have supported me throughout all of my endeavors. I am very grateful for all of the
opportunities they have given me. And, most importantly, thanks to my husband Eric
who was truly there from start to finish (along with our faithful cat Rudy and a certain
undercover agent). I couldn't have done it without him.
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