Dr Sarah Gear

Associate Lecturer in Russian

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2690
Email
seg28@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office
309
Location
Buchanan
Office hours
Tuesday 11-12, Wednesday 12-1

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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

  • Gear, S., 17 Jun 2026, 1 ed. Routledge. 264 p.

    Research output: Book/Report › Book

  • Gear, S., 20 Jun 2025, TLS, The Times Literary Supplement, 6377.

    Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 1 Oct 2024, In: Slavonic and East European Review. 102, 4, p. 165-166

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 1 Apr 2023, In: Modern Language Review. 118, 2, p. 277-278

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 2 Jun 2023, TLS, The Times Literary Supplement, 6270.

    Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 1 Aug 2022, Los Angeles Review of Books.

    Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 1 Apr 2022, In: Modern Language Review. 117, 2, p. 314-315

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 1 Jul 2022, In: Modern Language Review. 117, 3, p. 528-529

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

  • Gear, S., 18 Dec 2020, In: Los Angeles Review of Books.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

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