Valeria Sobol

Valeria Sobol is a Professor at the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures within the School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University (2003) and a diploma from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko University (1994).

• Education
  • Ph.D., Columbia University, 2003
  • Diploma of Higher Education, Kyiv Taras Shevchenko University, 1994

Her research spans Russian and Ukrainian literature from the 18th to 19th centuries, focusing on intersections of literature with law, medicine, and psychoanalysis, race in 19th-century Russia, and imperial Gothic. Her publications include two monographs: Febris Erotica: Lovesickness in the Russian Literary Imagination (2009) and Haunted Empire: Gothic and the Russian Imperial Uncanny (2020), which explores Gothic literature's role in destabilizing Russian imperial identity.

The 15 most recent articles (2005-2022) analyze topics such as Gothic aesthetics in Russian-Ukrainian literature, ethnographic discourse in Lermontov, and intersections of emotion physiology with literary realism. Her work frequently engages with postcolonial studies, literature and science, and national identity debates.

• Scientific Awards
  • Campus and LAS Dean's Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Awards (2023)
  • AAUS Best Article Prize (2018-19)
  • NEH Fellowship (2015-16)
  • NEH Summer Stipend (2014)
  • CAS Associate (2014-15)
  • CAS Beckman Fellowship (2005-06)

She contributes to interdisciplinary research through affiliations with the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center, Comparative and World Literature Program, and European Union Center. Her courses include Russian Golden Age literature, Tolstoy, Pushkin, and cross-cultural studies of Russia's interactions with the Caucasus and Ukraine.