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Olga Partan

Associate Professor, Russian Studies Program Director

Areas of Expertise

Russian Language, Literature, and Culture

Education

Ph.D. Brown University

Publications

English 

The Russian intelligentsia is the historic phenomenon of an educated opposition, and it has provoked a substantial body of Russian and Western publications. This book focuses on the intelligentsia’s Myth, Mission, Metamorphosis as discovered in literature, journalism, and theater. The chapters define essential elements of the myth of the intelligentsia as a distinctive social group and a spiritual formation claiming high moral standards and expectations for the self and for society. Second, contributions explore how the intelligentsia sees its mission on various historical stages as inextricably linked with Russia’s (and the Soviet Union’s) cultural destiny, especially its literary and other artistic creations. Finally, the volume addresses the metamorphosis of the intelligentsia over centuries, as socio-political factors shaped its persistence and its perpetual transformation.

The iconic masks of the Italian commedia dell’arte—Harlequin, Pierrot, Colombina, Pulcinella, and others—have been vagabonding the roads of Russian cultural history for more than three centuries. This book explores how these masks, and the artistic principles of the commedia dell’arte that they embody, have profoundly affected the Russian artistic imagination, providing a source of inspiration for leading Russian artists as diverse as nineteenth-century writer Nikolai Gogol, modernist theater director Evgenii Vakhtangov, Vladimir Nabokov, and the empress of Russian popular culture Alla Pugacheva. The author presents a new perspective on this topic, showing how the commedia dell’arte has nourished a rich cultural tradition in Russia.

Russian 

Ты права, Филумена! Вахтанговцы за кулисами театра.

Книга Ольги Симоновой-Партан – безусловное событие в жанре мемуарной прозы. Внучка выдающегося актера и режиссера Рубена Николаевича Симонова (1899-1968), дочь известного режиссера Евгения Рубеновича Симонова (1925- 1994) и актрисы Валерии Николаевны Разинковой (1937—1980), она сумела ярко, эмоционально, со множеством удивительных деталей показать исполненную драматизма историю взаимоотношений родителей, страсти, кипевшие на сцене и за сценой театра

You Were Right, Filumena! Vakhtangovites Behind the Theater’s Curtains
 
“The book by Olga Simonova-Partan is unquestionably an event in the memoir genre. The granddaughter of distinguished actor and director Ruben Simonov (1899-1968), the daughter of renowned director Evgeniy Simonov (1925- 1994) and actress Valeria Razinkova (1937-1980), she vividly, emotionally, and with many astonishing details brings to life the dramatic story of the relationship between her parents and the passions that were boiling onstage and behind the scenes of the theater.

Courses

  • Elementary Russian 1
  • Elementary Russian 2
  • Russian Cinema
  • Russian Drama and the West
  • Tales of Desire
  • Russian Propaganda in Media & the Arts