Dr. Alexander Markin is a research fellow and a lecturer at the English Department of the University of Zürich. He was awarded a PhD in German Baroque literature in 2008. His research interests include cultural history of the Cold War, comparative literature, and gender studies.

He co-edited two volumes of the History of Swiss literature (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo RAN, 2002) and a volume of essays on the history of the German literature (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo RGGU, 2014, forthcoming). He also edited and provided introductions to Russian translations of German and Austrian authors such as Andreas Gryphius, Alfred Döblin, Georg Heym, Hans Henny Jahnn, Stefan Zweig, and Thomas Bernhard.

Current research projects include preparation of a habilitation thesis on Conflict Aesthetics and the displacement of the Cold War in US and Soviet popular culture.

He also works as translator and author. His Diary 2002-2006 was nominated for Russian National Bestseller book prize and a follow-up Diary 2006-2011 was shortlisted for the NOS (New Literature) prize as well as for the Andrei Bely literary prize. A German translation of his Diaries is forthcoming in Matthes und Seitz (Berlin).

Consultation hours by by arrangement

Web-site: http://www.alexandermarkin.com/

Employment

– Since November 2013 : Research fellow SNF-Project Research fellow SNF-Project The Cold War as Political Imagination

– 2008-2013 : Teaching and research assistant to Prof. Elisabeth Bronfen

– 2001-2008 : Lecturer at the  Russian-Swiss Educational and Research Centre & at the Department of Comparative Literature of the Institute of History and Philology, Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU), Moscow

– 1999-2005 : Senior research fellow at the Department of Modern European and American Literature of the Maxim-Gorky Institue of World Literature (IMLI), Russian Academy of Sciences

Education

– 2008 : PhD Normative Poetics and National Ideology in the German Baroque, Ivanovo State University/Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow

– 1997-1999 : Study of German language and European literature at the Lomonosov Moscow State University

– 1996-1997 : Study of German and Russian literature at the University of Cologne

– 1992-1996 : Study of Russian and comparative literature at the  Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU), Moscow

Courses taught at the ES 

Fall 2013 : E.M. Forster

Spring 2013 : Textual Analysis, p.2; Queer Theory (co-taught with Dr. D. Picitto) 

Fall 2012 : Textual Analysis, p.1; Methods and Theory: Readings in Critical Theories; The 1990s

Spring 2012 : Textual Analysis, p. 2; Poetry of Illness; America, America: A History od Literature, Film and Culture (lecture series, together with Prof. Elisabeth Bronfen, Dr. Barbara Straumann and Dr. Johannes Binotto)

Fall 2011 : Textual Analysis, p.1;  Methods and Theory: Readings in Critical Theories; Cold War Fiction

Spring 2011 : Revolution in Poetic Language: English Poetry 1848–1918

Fall 2010 : Ann Radcliffe

Spring 2010 : Male Hysteria (co-taught with Johannes Binotto) 

Fall 2009 : Natural Disasters and their Aftermath in American Literature and Media 1908–2008

Grants, fellowships 

2008 Weimar Graduate Award, The Klassik Stiftung Weimar (Germany)    

2007    EIKONES Summer School 2007, University of Basel, NFS Bildkritik

2006    “Foreign Literature” Magazine Award for the Best Emerging Scholar

2006   German Literary Archive Fellowship, Marbach (Germany)

2004–2006   Swiss Government Grant

2004    Weimar Graduate Award, The Klassik Stiftung Weimar (Germany)

2002    The Goethe Society Fellowship (Germany)

1993, 1994, 1996-97  DAAD Scholarships 

Publications

Edited Volumes 

Ed. (with E. Dmitrieva and N. Pavlova) Essays in History of German Literature. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo RGGU, 2014 (forthcoming)

Ed. (with N. Pavlova and V. Sedel'nik)  History of Swiss Literature, Vol. 1 (1400–1800). Moscow: Izdatel'stvo IMLI, 2002

Ed. (with N. Pavlova and V. Sedel'nik)  History of Swiss Literature, Vol. 2 (1800–1900). Moscow: Izdatel'stvo IMLI, 2002

Editions of literary works

[Anonym, attributed to E.T.A. Hoffmann]. The Experiences and Confessions of Sister Monica. Tver: Kolonna, 2012 (Translation, explanatory notes, aferword)

Catherine Colomb. Castles of Childhood. Moscow: Mirovaja Kultura, 2011

Alfred Döblin. Mountains Seas and Giants. Sankt-Petersburg: Limbakh Press, 2011 (Explanatory notes p. 702–788)

Alfred Döblin.  Berlin Alexanderplatz. Moscow: Ladomir, 2011 (Translation, explanatory notes, chronology of life of A. Döblin, bibliography p. 509–640)

Alfred Döblin. The Three Leaps of Wang Lun. Tver: Kolonna, 2006 (Explanatory notes p. 493–558)

Georg Heym.  Poetry. Sankt-Petersburg: Azbuka, 2005 (Bilingual edition, ru-de, explanatory notes p. 430–479)

Stefan Zweig. Marie Antoinette; Decisive Moments in History; Selected Short Stories; Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Tolstoy.Moscow: AST, 2003 (Explanatory notes p. 965–1004)

Hermann Hesse. Steppenwolf; The Glass Bead Game.  Moscow: AST, 2002 (Explanatory notes p. 757–780)

Erich Maria Remarque. All Quiet on the Western Front; Three Comrade; Arch of Triumph. Moscow: AST, 2002 (Foreword, explanatory notes p. 946–957)

Alfred Döblin. Tales of a Long Night. Moscow: Prosodia, 2002 (Explanatory notes p. 502–553)

Georg Heym. Der Ewige Tag; Umbra vitae; Der Himmel Trauerspiel. Moscow:  Izdatel'stvo RAN, 2002 (Afterword, explanatory notes, chronology of life of G. Heym  p. 355–500)