Thomas Hodge

Thomas Hodge is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Russian at Wellesley College, where he serves in the Department of Russian. He teaches elementary Russian language and 19th-century Russian literature courses in both English and Russian, including specialized offerings on Tolstoy's works.

His educational credentials include a B.A. from Pomona College, an M.A. from the University of Oxford, and both an A.M. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Professor Hodge's research centers on 19th-century Russian literary history with focused expertise in the intersection of Russian literature and music, Russian nature writing, and hunting literature. His scholarship demonstrates deep engagement with Turgenev's environmental perspectives, as evidenced by his monograph Hunting Nature: Ivan Turgenev and the Organic World (2020) and its authorized Russian translation (2022).

His publication trajectory reveals consistent specialization in ecocritical approaches to Russian literature, bridging literary analysis with environmental history and cultural studies of the organic world in 19th-century Russia.

He co-founded the interdisciplinary field course "Lake Baikal: The Soul of Siberia" with Professor Marianne Moore (Biological Sciences), leading nine student expeditions to Siberia over two decades. His academic service extends to curriculum development for Russian language and literature programs.

Professor Hodge maintains active professional collaborations with musical institutions, serving as program note writer for the Salzburg Festival's Russian music concerts and Deutsche Grammophon recordings, while partnering with local ensembles performing Russian repertoire.