The Art and Science of Teaching: Authors and Filmmakers as Educators

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel explores the often-overlooked role of creative figures—writers, filmmakers, and scholars—as educators and mentors, examining the interplay between their artistic or intellectual work and their pedagogical practices. By analyzing the teaching methods and legacies of Nikolai Gumilev, Joseph Brodsky, Juri Lotman, and Andrei Tarkovsky, we aim to uncover how their approaches to education shaped literary and cinematic traditions, as well as public intellectual discourse.
The papers in this session address key themes: Gumilev’s paradoxical blend of Nietzschean poetic ideals and Soviet enlightenment efforts; Brodsky’s evolving image as a professor, reflecting the fluid nature of memory and cultural canonization; Lotman’s integration of formal instruction with intimate mentorship, bridging academic and domestic spaces; and Tarkovsky’s conceptualization of filmmaking as both an apprenticeship and a source of artistic lessons for future generations. Together, these studies offer new insights into the transmission of artistic and intellectual values through teaching.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 20th Century

Chair

• Peter Budrin, Queen Mary, U of London (UK)

Papers

• Gumilev Teaching Poetry: Between Nietzscheanism and the Soviet Project - Milla (Lioudmila) Fedorova, Georgetown U

• 'It Was World-Changing and Eye-Opening': The Evolution of Brodsky's Image in the Memories of His Former Students - Masha Cook

• Academic Domesticity: Juri Lotman as a Scholar and Mentor from Lectures on Structural Poetics to Conversations on Russian Culture - Igor Pilshchikov, UCLA

• Lessons from Tarkovsky - Yuri Leving, Princeton U

Discussants

• Peter Budrin, Queen Mary, U of London (UK)

• Jose Vergara, Bryn Mawr College