Kelsey Rubin-Detlev (USA)

Kelsey Rubin-Detlev
DPhil in Medieval & Modern Languages

After a BA in French and Russian from Christ Church, Oxford, and an MA in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Columbia University in New York, I returned to Oxford as an Ertegun Scholar to complete a DPhil on the correspondence of Catherine the Great, empress of Russia 1762-1796. My research focuses on the Russian and European Enlightenment.

The Ertegun programme made my time as a DPhil student unforgettable. I found in Ertegun House a truly unparalleled intellectual environment: a beautiful workspace and the time to make use of it; a diverse group of people with whom to converse, commiserate, and celebrate; and an astounding array of cultural opportunities (our footsteps echoing through the empty British Museum as we arrive before hours for an exclusive tour…).

 

For more information, visit my faculty page

 

 

 

Books:

  •  The Epistolary Art of Catherine the Great, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment (Liverpool University Press, 2019) [https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/9781789620078]. Winner of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL) Best First Book Award 2020 and the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) Alexander Nove Prize in Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies 2019

 

 

Life after Ertegun House

After my doctorate, I was the Foote Junior Research Fellow in Russian at the Queen’s College, Oxford. Since 2018 I have been an Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California. My current research is supported by fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (2021) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2022-2023).

I would be delighted to hear from Ertegun Scholars past, present, and future.