Helen Muchnic papers

Helen Muchnic was the Helen and Laura Shedd Professor of Russian Literature at Smith College. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan (formerly part of the Soviet Union) in 1902, as a young girl her family emigrated to the United States, where she was educated. Muchnic received a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College in 1925. She also studied at the School of Slavonic Studies of the University of London. In 1930, Muchnic became a member of the Smith College faculty as an instructor in the English department. Upon receiving her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College in 1937, she was appointed assistant professor in the English Department, and then in 1943 became an associate professor. During WWII she taught the history of Russian Literature at Yale University under the Army Specialized Training Program. She helped to organize the department of Russian Literature at Smith College in 1945, and became an associate professor in Slavic Literature until 1947, when she was appointed full professor. She also taught at Harvard University in 1948. In 1963, sMuchnic became chair of Smith's Russian department, as the Helen and Laura Shedd Professor of Russian Literature, a position which she held until her retirement in 1969. In 1965, she was visiting professor of Russian Literature at the University of Toronto.

Muchinc authored many books, including An Introduction to Russian Literature (1947), From Gorky to Pasternak: Six Writers in Soviet Russia (1961), The Unhappy Consciousness: Gogol, Poe and Baudelaire (1967), Dostoevsky’s English Reputation, 1881-1936 (1969), and Russian Writers: Notes and Essay (1971). She was also a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books.

Helen Muchnic died on June 29, 2000 at her home in Cummington, MA at the age of 97.