Ellen Chances

Ellen Chances is currently a Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University. Her academic career spans several decades, focusing on Russian literature and its interdisciplinary connections with culture, history, and the arts.

• Education:
• PhD in Russian literature, Princeton University (1972)
• MA in Russian literature, Princeton University (1970)
• BA in Russian literature, Oberlin College (1967)

Chances’ research explores the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first-century Russian novel, Soviet and post-Soviet literature, and the interplay between literature and other arts. Her work delves into themes like the psychology of culture, literature and values, and literature-film adaptations.

Her publications, including articles from 2007 on Andrei Bitov’s ecological themes and 2005 works on Tolstoy’s influence in Cuban-American drama, reflect a focus on literary theory, comparative studies, and cultural analysis. She has also contributed to understanding the ‘Mir iskusstva’ movement and the ‘Superfluous Man’ trope.

Chances has engaged in public-facing academic work, such as discussing Russian films on CUNY-TV and consulting for Princeton’s McCarter Theater productions of Chekhov’s plays. She authored the definitive study Andrei Bitov: The Ecology of Inspiration (Cambridge University Press, 1993).