Beth Holmgren
American literary critic and cultural historian
About Beth Holmgren
Born 1955. Beth Holmgren is an American historian, literary critic, slavist, university teacher, cultural historian and indologist.
Beth Holmgren (born September 8, 1955) is an American literary critic and a cultural historian in Polish and Russian studies. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at Duke University. Recognised for her scholarship in Russian women's studies and Polish cultural history (with a special emphasis on theater), she is working on a multicultural history of fin-de-siecle Warsaw. Before coming to Duke, she taught at the University of California-San Diego (1987-1993) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1993-2007). She earned her B.A at Grinnell College, and two master's degrees (Soviet Studies) and (Slavic Languages and Literatures) and her doctoral doctorate at Harvard University (Ph.D. completed in 1987).
Holmgren served as the president of ASEEES (2008), the largest North American organization in Slavic Studies, and president of the AWSS (2003-2005), the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. During her tenure at ASEEES, she wrote and produced, in collaboration with director Igor' Sopronenko, the film Modern Russian Feminism: Twenty Years Forward, which was first screened at the convention and then issued as a DVD. In addition to publishing extensively in major Russian and Slavic journals, she has published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Theatre Journal, Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, Journal of Jewish Identities, the Russian-language journal , and the Polish-language journals , and . Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America Indiana University Press, November 2011. Rewriting Capitalism: Literature and the Market in the Late Tsarist Empire and the Kingdom of Poland. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. Women's Works In Stalin's Time: On Lidiia Chukovskaia and Nadezhda Mandrelstam. Indiana University Press, 1993.
Edited books Transgressive Women in Modern Russian and Eastern European Cultures: From the Bad to the Blasphemous, Co-edited with Yana Hashamova and Mark Lipovetsky. Routledge, 2016. Americans Experience Russia: Encountering the Enigma, 1917-Present. Co-edited with Choi Chatterjee. Routledge, 2013. Poles Apart: Women in Modern Polish Culture. Co-edited with Helena Goscilo, Slavica Press, 2006. The Russian Memoir: History and Literature. Edited by Beth Holmgren. Northwestern University Press, 2003. Russia.*Women*Culture. Co-edited with Helena Goscilo. Indiana University Press. 1996.
Translation Keys to Happiness by Anastasya Verbitskaya. Edited, abridged, translated and introduced by Beth Holmgren and Helena Goscilo. Indiana University Press, 1999.
DVD Modern Russian Feminism: Twenty Years Forward . Written and produced by Beth Holmgren. Directed by Igor’ Sopronenko. Indiana University Press, 2009. Format: Multiple Formats, Dolby, NTSC.
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Important facts
People in Beth Holmgren's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
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Frequently asked questions
Who is Beth Holmgren?
American literary critic and cultural historian
When was Beth Holmgren born?
Beth Holmgren was born on 8 September 1955.
What is Beth Holmgren's occupation?
Beth Holmgren is a historian, literary critic, slavist, university teacher, cultural historian and indologist.
What nationality is Beth Holmgren?
Beth Holmgren is American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Beth Holmgren. https://biography.guide/beth-holmgren/
MLA: "Beth Holmgren." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/beth-holmgren/.
Chicago: "Beth Holmgren." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/beth-holmgren/.
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