Sergey Toymentsev, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Russian
Education
Ph.D., Comparative Literature, Rutgers University, 2014
Diploma of Specialist, Russian and English Languages and Literature, Kazan State University, Russia, 2000
Research Interests
- Contemporary Russian Culture
- Russian Cinema
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Gilles Deleuze
- Film-Philosophy
- Memory Studies
Publications and Media Placements
Books in Progress
"From Matter to Thought: Towards a Deleuzian Taxonomy of Russian Film History"
"Mnemonic Hybrids in a Hybrid Regime: Remembering the Soviet Past in Putin鈥檚 Russia"
Edited Volumes
"Refocus: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky" (Edinburgh University Press, February 2021)
"Refocus: The Films of Alexander Sokurov" (in preparation)
Selected Essays
鈥淚ntroduction: Refocus on Tarkovsky鈥� in Refocus: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky (Edinburgh University Press, February 2021), 1-10.
鈥淒oes Tarkovsky Have a Film Theory?鈥� in Refocus: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky (Edinburgh University Press, February 2021), 46-63.
鈥淰on Trier and Tarkovsky: From Antithesis to Counter-Sublime,鈥� (co-authored with Anton Dolin) in Refocus: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky (Edinburgh University Press, February 2021), 257-274.
鈥淎vtoritarizm s chelovecheskim litsom: sovetsky geroi v postsovetskom baiopike鈥� [鈥淎uthoritarianism with a Human Face: Soviet Hero in Post-Soviet Biopic鈥漖, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, Vol. 165, 2020, 129-147.
鈥淩etro-Future in Post-Soviet Dystopia,鈥� CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, Vol. 21. 4, 2019
鈥淭he Crisis of the Soviet Action-Image: Towards a Deleuzian Taxonomy of Thaw Cinema,鈥� New Europe College Yearbook, 2017-2018 (Pontica Magna Program): 135-164.
鈥淟egal but Criminal: the Failure of the 鈥淩ussian Nuremberg鈥� and the Paradoxes of Post-Soviet Memory,鈥� Comparative Literature Studies, Vol. 48. 3, 2011: 296- 319.
鈥�'It could have all turned out differently': Ideological Censorship of the Marriage Plot in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park,鈥� The AnaChronisT: Journal of English and American Studies, Fall 2011: 18-33.
鈥淎ctive/Reactive Body in Deleuze and Foucault,鈥� Journal of Philosophy: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry, Vol. 5:11, 2010: 44-56, ed. by Daniel Smith.
Book Reviews
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Faire l'idiot: la politique de Deleuze by Philippe Mengue,鈥� French Studies, Vol. 69. 2, 2015: 263-4.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Deleuze and Film: A Feminist Introduction by Teresa Rizzo,鈥� Film Criticism, Vol. 38. 3, 2014: 75-8.
鈥淩eview Essay: Russia鈥檚 Historical Memory: Strict-Security or Hybrid?鈥� Ab Imperio, 2/2013: 336-45.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Slovo v mire Andreya Tarkovskogo: Po臈tika inoskazania by Mikhail Perepelkin,鈥� Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema, Vol. 7.3, 2013: 343-4.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Deleuze et le cin茅ma : L'armature philosophique des livres sur le cinema by Jean-Michel Pamart,鈥� French Studies, Vol. 68.1, 2014: 127-8.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Andrei Tarkovsky鈥檚 Poetics of Cinema by Thomas Redwood,鈥� Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 56: 509-11.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: New Philosophies of Film: Thinking Images by Robert Sinnerbrink,鈥� Film Criticism, Vol. 37.1, 2012: 76-9.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Andrei Tarkovsky. Zvuchashii mir fil鈥檓a by Natalia Kononenko,鈥� Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema, Vol. 6.3, 2012: 384-6.
鈥凌别惫颈别飞: Kinogermenevtika Tarkovskogo by Dmitrii Salynsky,鈥� Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema, Vol. 5.3, 2011: 413-14.
鈥淔ull-Length Portrait of Pynchon in Post-Soviet Frame,鈥� Review of Thomas Pynchon and His America: Enigmas, Parallels, Cultural Contexts by Alexei Lalo, Pynchon Notes, 46鈥�49 (2000鈥�2001): 264鈥�66.
Film Reviews
鈥淔ilm Review: Johnny O鈥橰eilly鈥檚 Moscow Never Sleeps (2015),鈥� KinoKultura, Issue 58 (October), 2017.
鈥淔ilm Review: Alena Semenova鈥檚 The Red Queen (2015),鈥� KinoKultura, Issue 54 (October), 2016.
鈥淔ilm Review: Aleksei German鈥檚 Under Electric Clouds (2015),鈥� KinoKultura, Issue 50 (October), 2015.
鈥淔ilm Review: Maria Saakyan鈥檚 Entropy (2012),鈥� KinoKultura, Issue 43 (January), 2014.
鈥淔ilm Review: Andrei Zaitsev鈥檚 The Layabouts (2011),鈥� KinoKultura, Issue 38 (October), 2012.
鈥淔ilm Review: Grigory Konstantinopolsky鈥檚 Pussycat (2009),鈥� KinoKultura, Issue 31 (January), 2011.
Interviews
鈥淭he Eighties were the Russian Sixties: An Interview on Kirill Serebrennikov鈥檚 Leto with Lilly and Michael Idov,鈥� Film International, Vol. 19. 2, 2021 (forthcoming)
鈥淗eroes on the Edge: An Interview with Alexei Uchitel.鈥� Film International, Dec 18, 2018:
鈥淓nding the War in Perpetrator鈥檚 Clothes: Robert Shwentke on The Captain鈥� Film International, Sep 12, 2018:
鈥淯ncovering the Katyn Massacre Cover-up: An Interview with Piotr Szkopiak on The Last Witness,鈥� Film International, Jun 5, 2018:
鈥淭he Pulse of Russian City Life: An Interview with Johnny O鈥橰eilly on Moscow Never Sleeps,鈥� Film International, Sep 7, 2017:
鈥淚n Need of Russian Heroes: An Interview with Alexander Nevsky on Black Rose,鈥� Film International, May 7, 2017:
鈥淭he Uncomfortable Polyphony of Being: An Interview with Aleksei German, Jr.鈥� Film International, Vol. 14. 3, 2016: 150-60.
Honors and Awards
Swedish Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship, S枚dert枚rn University, The Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, 2019 (declined)
Pontica Magna Fellowship at New Europe College, Institute for Advanced Study, Bucharest, 2018
Junior Fellowship at Polish Institute of Advanced Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 2017
1st Graduate Essay Prize ($200) for the paper presented at the North East Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies conference (NESEEES) Conference, 2011
Graduate Student Fellowship, Rutgers University, 2003 - 2007
Fulbright Research Fellowship, Washington State University, WA, 2002 鈥� 2003
Regional Scholar Exchange Program Grant by IREX, 2002 (declined)
Junior Research Fellowship, Free University in Berlin, JFK Institute in North American and Canadian Studies, 2001
Medal awarded by the Russian Ministry of Education for the best student's essay, 2000
Professional Organizations and Associations
American Association for Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies