Kevin Moss
Office
FIC 203
Tel
(802) 443-5786
Email
moss@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Spring 2023: Wednesday: 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Kevin Moss graduated from Amherst College in 1977 and received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1984, with a dissertation on Olga Freidenberg, who headed the Classics Department at Leningrad University. His translation of Freidenberg’s Image and Concept: Mythopoetic Roots of Literature was published in 1997. Interest in Mikhail Bulgakov led to several publications and a website devoted to Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita.

Since the early ‘90s he has studied gay & lesbian culture in Russia and Eastern Europe, and in 1997 he edited the first anthology of gay writing from Russia, Out of the Blue: Russia’s Hidden Gay Literature (Gay Sunshine Press). His translations of the work of Evgeny Kharitonov have appeared in several anthologies and journals. Recent publications focus on queer characters in films from former Yugoslavia.

Prof. Moss teaches Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies in the Women and Gender Studies Program and has also taught Hungarian and Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian. At Middlebury he has also conducted the Middlebury Russian Choir and advised the Middlebury Open Queer Alliance.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Identity and Difference
How do we use categories of identity and difference? How does culture determine how we perceive and perform gender and ethnic identity: male/female, gay/straight, East/West, black/white? We will look at constructions of gender and sexual identity in various cultures and consider how they intersect with national and ethnic identity. Literature and film will be our primary focus. We will read Euripides’ Bacchae, Forster’s Passage to India, and Hwang’s Madame Butterfly and view films like Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Europa Europa that problematize sexual and gender identity. 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

Requirements

CMP, CW, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies
This course will provide an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of gay and lesbian studies. We will explore three topics: queer theory, the construction and representation of homosexuality in history, and queer culture before and after Stonewall. Readings will include works by Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Eve Sedgwick, George Chauncey, John Boswell, Lillian Faderman, Oscar Wilde, Radclyffe Hall, Michael Cunningham, and Tony Kushner. 3 hrs. lect./3 screen

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023

Requirements

SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Russian and East European Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Winter 2020, Winter 2021, Winter 2022, Winter 2023, Winter 2024

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Beginning Russian
This course is an approach to the language using four skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). It provides a firm control of the sound system and the structure of Russian. Although much emphasis is put on the spoken colloquial language, reading, writing, and a conscious understanding of the fundamentals of grammar prepare a strong foundation for work in advanced courses or for reading in specialized fields. 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. drill.

Terms Taught

Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Requirements

LNG

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Beginning Russian
This course is a continuation of the approach used in RUSS 0102, but with increased emphasis on reading. (RUSS 0102) 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. drill.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Intermediate Russian
Systematic review of grammar and development of the spoken and written skills attained in Beginning Russian. (RUSS 0103 or equivalent) 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. drill

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Intermediate Russian
Continuation of the approach used in RUSS 0201. Reading of contemporary Russian texts, conversation, and written assignments in Russian based on reading assignments. (RUSS 0201 or equivalent) 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. drill

Terms Taught

Spring 2021

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Advanced Studies in Language and Literature
Supervised individual study for highly qualified students. (Approval required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023

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Course Description

Senior Independent Study
(Approval required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023

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Publications

“Queer as Metaphor: Representations of LGBT People in Central and Eastern European Film,” in Kuhar, Roman and Judit Takacs, eds. 2006. Beyond the Pink Curtain: Everyday Life of LGBT People in Eastern Europe. Peace Institute (Politike Symposion): Ljubljana, 249-267.



“’Ja nisam prava žena:’ Gender and Sexuality in Two Memoirs from Beograd” Hodzic A. & J. Postic (Eds.). Transgressing Gender: Two is not Enough for Gender (E)quality: The Conference Collection. Zagreb: CESI & Women’s Room, 2006, 290-308.



“From Sworn Virgins to Transvestite Prostitutes: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Two Films from Yugoslavia,” in Aleksandar Stulhofer and Theo Sandfort, eds., Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia. NY: Haworth Pr., 2005, 79-94.



“The Underground Closet: Political and Sexual Dissidence in Eastern Europe,” in Ellen E. Berry, ed., Genders 22: Postcommunism and the Body Politic (1995), 229-251.