°µÍø½ûÇø

Profile photo of Rebecca Reich

Phone number: +44 (0)1223 337041

Email: rr423@cam.ac.uk

Website:

Dr Rebecca Reich

Fellow
University Positions
University Associate Professor of Russian Literature and Culture
Specialising in
Slavonic Studies

Rebecca Reich is a University Associate Professor of Russian literature and culture. 

Academic interests

Rebecca Reich's academic interests include:

  • 20th century Russian literature, film, music and popular culture
  • Intellectual and cultural history
  • The history of science, medicine, print culture, and law
  • Samizdat and dissent
  • Law and humanities.

Degrees obtained

  • BA, Yale.
  • PhD, Harvard.

Biography

Dr Rebecca Reich is a scholar of twentieth-century Russian literature and culture. Her book State of Madness: Psychiatry, Literature, and Dissent After Stalin (Northern Illinois University Press, 2018) examines the politically fraught interaction of psychiatric and literary discourses in the years after Joseph Stalin’s death. Her current book project is a study of literary journalism in the post-Stalin period supported in 2019-20 by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship.

Dr Reich received her PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University and her BA in Russian from Yale College. She is the Consultant Editor for Russia and East-Central Europe at the Times Literary Supplement and was Arts Editor and Books Editor of The Moscow Times from 2003 to 2008She has contributed book reviews to The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Bookforum, The Forward, The New Leader, The Moscow Times and other publications.

Department link

Publications, links and resources

Books

  • Reich, R. (2018) State of Madness: Psychiatry, Literature, and Dissent After Stalin. De Kalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press.

Book chapters 

  • Reich, R. (2015) Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Russian Variations on a Psychiatric Theme. In: Psychiatry in Communist Europe, ed, S. Marks and M. Savelli, London: Palgrave MacMillan, pp 196-215.

Articles

  • Reich, R. (2014) Inside the Psychiatric Word: Diagnosis and Self-Definition in the Late Soviet Period. Slavic Review 73 (3) pp 563–84.
  • Reich, R. (2013) Madness as Balancing Act in Joseph Brodsky’s ‘Gorbunov and Gorchakov’. The Russian Review 72 (1) pp 45–65.

Hear from our students

  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Jake

    Postgraduate

    When applying to Cambridge colleges it can feel a bit overwhelming as there are so many to choose from. I applied to °µÍø½ûÇø because it has a large MCR which was important for me because I wanted to feel part of a community. Now that I’m doing my PhD here, I’m very glad I did choose a college with a large postgraduate community. Throughout the year there are lots of postgraduate events, including formal dinners, special formals at Christmas and Easter, bops in the bar and film nights in...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Ahsan

    Postgraduate

    It is a well-accepted opinion in Cambridge that °µÍø½ûÇø is the best college and no other college even comes a distant second. Its sports grounds are enormous, its buildings are mesmerising, its libraries are rich, its chapel is the oldest, its accommodation is the best value for money, its international community is diverse, its religious circles are the most welcoming, and its members are the smartest, kindest and the friendliest. It is one of the central colleges that aims to offer three years accommodation to postgraduates, and has comparatively...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Postgraduate at °µÍø½ûÇø

    Tom

    Postgraduate

    There are many reasons why I’m so happy to be a part of °µÍø½ûÇø. The three biggest reasons for me are the opportunities to be involved in College sport, the support the College provides for me with for my research and the help in making sure that we have comfortable, affordable accommodation when we have needed it. °µÍø½ûÇø is so friendly and so it is incredibly easy to get involved in the sport and social side of the College. The MCR does a great job in welcoming new...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Fiamma

    Postgraduate

    °µÍø½ûÇø, my home. I am truly grateful to be able to call °µÍø½ûÇø my second home. It was my preferred option when I first applied for my MPhil and I could not be happier to still be here during my PhD! There are many reasons why Jesus stands out from the other colleges: from its fantastic facilities to its glorious formal dinners and to its wonderful café and brewery room. The Quincentenary Library is a lovely place to study. It has many spaces to choose from and everything...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • °µÍø½ûÇø Postgraduate Student

    Imogen

    Postgraduate

    I chose Cambridge for my PGCE as it’s the leading UK institution for teacher training and Education, with an exciting, research-dominated, cutting edge course. The staff are welcoming and approachable, and make studying here an absolute joy. I’ve already completed one of my three primary school placements, in a reception class in a school just outside Cambridge, and am due to start the next one soon. I chose Jesus because of its reputation as a sporty College, but the proximity to the city centre is a big bonus. Jesus also...

    Read more
    Postgraduate