• Contact Info

Grove, Vicki Jean

Teaching Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Vicki Grove's research is focused on areas of interest related to her teaching. Because of the breadth of subjects of the courses she teaches, she has interests in diverse areas, such as Russian folk belief and its relevance to fairy and folk tale narrative and the representations of superstitious belief and customs in 19th and 20th-century Russian literature; she is also interested in significant literary figures of the 19th century, particularly Lermontov and Dostoevsky. In concert with new curriculum development Vicki Grove has also energetically researched space and climate in Scandinavian and Russian literature. Her recent research includes Nordic studies in folklore, culture, mythology, and Icelandic sagas, and humanistic geography.

keywords

  • russian history and culture, the medieval period, pre-and post-petrine period, imperial russia, the stalinist era, russian romanticism, realism, and the avant garde, russian folk belief and superstitions, russian fairy tales, russian literature, dostoevsky, tolstoy, norse mythology, nordic cultures, nordic folk belief, icelandic sagas, humanistic geography, nordic film

Teaching

courses taught

  • FYSM 1000 - First Year Seminar
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2020
    Provide first year students with an immersive experience in an interdisciplinary topic that addresses current issues including social, technical and global topics. Taught by faculty from across campus, the course provides students with an opportunity to interact in small classes, have project based learning experiences and gain valuable communication skills. Seminar style classes focused on discussion and projects.
  • HUMN 4811 - 19th Century Russian Literature
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2024
    Surveys background of Russian literature from 1800 to 1900. Russian writers and literary problems in the 19th century emphasizing major authors: Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Chekhov.
  • REES 2211 - Russian Culture and Art Under Tsars Great and Terrible
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2023
    Explores the cultural history of Russia from the 9th century through 1917. Using visual presentations and reading of primary sources, we will examine closely those rulers whose actions had a significant impact on the development of Russian life, art, and architecture, such as Ivan the Terrible, and Peter I and Catherine II, the �Greats.� No knowledge of Russian required. Taught in English.
  • REES 2221 - Introduction to Modern Russian and Soviet Culture
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2024
    Introduces students to major trends in Russian and Soviet culture from the 1890's to the present, through the study of literature, art, architecture, music and film in an historical context. Addresses such questions as: how have past events affected Russian and post-Soviet society? How can we use knowledge about the past to understand social and cultural forces today? Taught in English. Degree credit not granted for this course and LIBB 2100. Formerly RUSS 2221.
  • REES 2241 - Death and the Undead in Slavic and Nordic Cultures
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
    Focuses on the study of beliefs and practices related to the dead as represented in popular culture. This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to representations of the vampire/revenant and other denizens of the undead in Icelandic sagas, Russian epic song, folktales, folklore, literature, and film from the medieval period through contemporary popular culture. Through close analysis of these various sources, this course will focus on the metaphoric usefulness of the �restless undead� in explaining its relentless appearance in cultural artifacts, and pursue the question of why the vampire will not �die,� but instead continues to appeal to modern and post-modern imaginations. Taught in English. Same as SCAN 2241.
    • ... more

Background