Alexander Chudakov

Alexander Chudakov (1938-2005) was an internationally renowned Russian literary scholar and Chekhov specialist. He joined the faculty of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Literature in 1964 and became a professor of Russian literature at Moscow State University in 1969. After 1988, he taught as a visiting professor at universities in Hamburg, Michigan, Los Angeles, Seoul and Cologne.

In 2000, Chudakov made a surprising literary debut with his fictionalized family memoir entitled A Gloom Descends Upon the Ancient Steps. It was a favorite of serious Russian critics and was nominated for several prestigious national prizes, including the 2001 Russian Booker. In 2011, it was awarded a new Russian Booker prize, “Russian Booker of the Decade.”