DELC Research Seminar Series: Margarita Vaysman In brief Date - 19 October 2026Venue - Room G.05, 50 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Margarita Vaysman (University of Oxford)Title - Queer and Transgender Erasure in Nineteenth-Century Russian Historical Fiction: Danilo Mordovets's 1812 About the eventThis talk will focus on one of the case studies from Dr Vaysman's forthcoming book "A Brave Life: Queer and Transgender Erasure in Russian Culture", a foundational contribution to the emerging field of Russophone transgender studies. Spanning the period from the nineteenth century to the present, it reveals Russian culture’s continuous engagement with narratives of transgender lives. It does so by looking at six works by different authors in literature, film and theatre, all featuring one protagonist – a Russian-Ukrainian transgender hero of the Napoleonic Wars, Aleksandr Aleksandrov (Nadezhda Durova) (1783-1866).Exposing how Aleksandrov’s masculine identity was (mis)represented in these six adaptations of his original 1837 autobiography, it counteracts the ongoing global process of erasing trans subjectivities from cultural history. 1812, the 1879 historical novel by a Russian-Ukrainian writer Danilo Mordovets (1830-1905), was the first novelisation of Aleksandrov's original text that created a blueprint for future adaptations. In this talk, Dr Vaysman reconstructs the specific strategies used by Mordovets in recasting Aleksandrov's life as a story of feminist triumph.About the speakerDr Margarita Vaysman is Associate Professor of Nineteenth-Century Russophone Literature and Fellow in Russian at New College, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on literary texts, primarily the realist novel, and history of gender and sexuality. Her recent publications include a monograph Self-Conscious Realism: Metafiction and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel (2021) and two edited volumes, Nineteenth-Century Russian Realism: Society, Knowledge, Narrative (2020) and The Oxford Handbook of Global Realisms (2025).How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required - just come along!About the seminar seriesThe DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and coproduction between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.Entry is free and everyone is welcome. No registration is necessary.Are you interested in studying European Languages and Cultures?Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in nine European languages, and the many cultures worldwide in which they're spoken, with experts in film, literature, theatre, translation and intermediality. Working with colleagues elsewhere in LLC, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about studying with us Tags European Languages and Cultures Russian Oct 19 2026 12.00 - 13.00 DELC Research Seminar Series: Margarita Vaysman An in-person seminar by Dr Margarita Vaysman (University of Oxford) exploring Russian culture’s continuous engagement with narratives of transgender lives, pulling from a case study in Dr Vaysman's forthcoming book. Room G.05 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square This article was published on Wednesday 22 October 2025
DELC Research Seminar Series: Margarita Vaysman In brief Date - 19 October 2026Venue - Room G.05, 50 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Margarita Vaysman (University of Oxford)Title - Queer and Transgender Erasure in Nineteenth-Century Russian Historical Fiction: Danilo Mordovets's 1812 About the eventThis talk will focus on one of the case studies from Dr Vaysman's forthcoming book "A Brave Life: Queer and Transgender Erasure in Russian Culture", a foundational contribution to the emerging field of Russophone transgender studies. Spanning the period from the nineteenth century to the present, it reveals Russian culture’s continuous engagement with narratives of transgender lives. It does so by looking at six works by different authors in literature, film and theatre, all featuring one protagonist – a Russian-Ukrainian transgender hero of the Napoleonic Wars, Aleksandr Aleksandrov (Nadezhda Durova) (1783-1866).Exposing how Aleksandrov’s masculine identity was (mis)represented in these six adaptations of his original 1837 autobiography, it counteracts the ongoing global process of erasing trans subjectivities from cultural history. 1812, the 1879 historical novel by a Russian-Ukrainian writer Danilo Mordovets (1830-1905), was the first novelisation of Aleksandrov's original text that created a blueprint for future adaptations. In this talk, Dr Vaysman reconstructs the specific strategies used by Mordovets in recasting Aleksandrov's life as a story of feminist triumph.About the speakerDr Margarita Vaysman is Associate Professor of Nineteenth-Century Russophone Literature and Fellow in Russian at New College, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on literary texts, primarily the realist novel, and history of gender and sexuality. Her recent publications include a monograph Self-Conscious Realism: Metafiction and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel (2021) and two edited volumes, Nineteenth-Century Russian Realism: Society, Knowledge, Narrative (2020) and The Oxford Handbook of Global Realisms (2025).How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required - just come along!About the seminar seriesThe DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and coproduction between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.Entry is free and everyone is welcome. No registration is necessary.Are you interested in studying European Languages and Cultures?Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in nine European languages, and the many cultures worldwide in which they're spoken, with experts in film, literature, theatre, translation and intermediality. Working with colleagues elsewhere in LLC, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about studying with us Tags European Languages and Cultures Russian Oct 19 2026 12.00 - 13.00 DELC Research Seminar Series: Margarita Vaysman An in-person seminar by Dr Margarita Vaysman (University of Oxford) exploring Russian culture’s continuous engagement with narratives of transgender lives, pulling from a case study in Dr Vaysman's forthcoming book. Room G.05 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square This article was published on Wednesday 22 October 2025
Oct 19 2026 12.00 - 13.00 DELC Research Seminar Series: Margarita Vaysman An in-person seminar by Dr Margarita Vaysman (University of Oxford) exploring Russian culture’s continuous engagement with narratives of transgender lives, pulling from a case study in Dr Vaysman's forthcoming book.
