Thomas Barran

  Professor
  Department: Modern Languages and Literatures
  Location: 4214 Boylan Hall
  Phone: 718-951-3127
  Fax: 718-951-4235

  Email:

I attended public schools in northeastern Ohio, which were better than one would expect. My childhood was not very happy or interesting, so naturally I gravitated to Russian literature.
I started Columbia College in 1964 and graduated with a dual major in Russian and English during the riots of 1968. Then four years of teaching elementary school--rural poverty area of northern Ohio. Graduate School, Dept. of Slavic Languages at Columbia Russian Literature and linguistics, with a minor in French literature. Spent a year in Leningrad on IREX/Fulbright fellowship,& have returned to Russia more times than I can count. While finishing my dissertation I worked full-time as an index editor on the MLA International Bibliography, after which I worked at the Institute for International Education as an administrator on the Fulbright exchanges. Taught Russian at Washington University in St. Louis for two years, then came to Brooklyn College.

Education:
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - 1984 (SLAVIC LANGUAGES)

Areas of Expertise:
Russian links with French culture 18th & 19th centuries. first book:"Russia Reads Rousseau, 1762-1825." published articles on dreams in "Anna Karenina," painting in Dostoevsky's "Idiot," and the politics of Tolstoy's "What is Art?" passionate about new Russian cinema; currently writing a book about the absence of past and history in Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." As a sideline, I publish reviews of classical music concerts.