Dr Sarah Gear
Associate Lecturer in Russian
- Phone
- +44 (0)1334 46 2690
- seg28@st-andrews.ac.uk
- Office
- 309
- Location
- Buchanan
- Office hours
- Tuesday 10-11, Thursday 1-2
Research areas
I teach Russian language at beginners’, sub-honours, and honours levels, with modules focusing on grammar, literature, and translation.
My research examines contemporary Russian fiction, with particular focus on publishing networks that operate beyond the borders of the Russian Federation. I am also interested in the politics of literary translation, specifically the ways in which personal and institutional political bias influence the commission, translation and reception of contemporary Russian literature when it is brought into English, and I have a book on the topic forthcoming.
My research directly informs my literature teaching, which foregrounds contemporary authors such as Alla Gorbunova, Maxim Osipov, Alisa Ganieva, and Ludmila Petrushevskaya. I also explore the work of Russophone writers living outside Russia, and of authors whose texts reach international audiences through Russian as a pivot language.
My engagement with literary translation extends beyond the Russian context. As Assistant Interview Editor at the literary translation journal Asymptote, I have conducted and published interviews with a range of authors and translators, including Georgi Gospodinov, Andrey Kurkov, Boris Dralyuk, Mikhail Shishkin, Anton Hur, Shelley Fairweather-Vega, and Jen Calleja.
Selected publications
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"A changing of the epochs": recording a complex tapestry of life
Gear, S., 20 Jun 2025, TLS, The Times Literary Supplement, 6377.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
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'Russian liberalism', by Paul Robinson
Gear, S., 1 Oct 2024, In: Slavonic and East European Review. 102, 4, p. 165-166Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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'Companion to Victor Pelevin'
Gear, S., 1 Apr 2023, In: Modern Language Review. 118, 2, p. 277-278Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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Into the astral plane: from post-Soviet Saint Petersburg to a magical Karelian forest
Gear, S., 2 Jun 2023, TLS, The Times Literary Supplement, 6270.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
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"Almost tangible presence": on Yuri Felsen's 'Deceit'
Gear, S., 1 Aug 2022, Los Angeles Review of Books.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
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'Pelevin and unfreedom: poetics, politics, metaphysics' by Sofia Khagi
Gear, S., 1 Apr 2022, In: Modern Language Review. 117, 2, p. 314-315Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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'Is Russia fascist? Unravelling propaganda East and West'
Gear, S., 1 Jul 2022, In: Modern Language Review. 117, 3, p. 528-529Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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'Camp Russia: On Zakhar Prilepin's 'The Monastery'
Gear, S., 18 Dec 2020, In: Los Angeles Review of Books.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review