Barbara Heldt
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Barbara Heldt (born 2 February 1940 in New York City) is an American emerita professor of
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
. The
Heldt Prize The Heldt Prize is a literary award from the Association for Women in Slavic Studies named in honor of Barbara Heldt. The award has been given variously in the following categories: *Best book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian Women's Studies ...
, a literary award in her name, was established by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. She was a member of the editorial board of the series ''Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature''. She is best known for her researches on Russian literature by women, the introduction of
gender analysis Gender analysis is a type of socio-economic analysis that uncovers how gender relations affect a development problem. The aim may just be to show that gender relations will probably affect the solution, or to show how they will affect the solution a ...
and feminist perspectives into Slavic studies, and for her translation of
Karolina Pavlova Karolina Karlovna Pavlova () (22 July 1807 – 14 December 1893) was a 19th-century Russian poet and novelist.Terras, 1985, p. 128. Biography Karolina Karlovna Pavlova (née Jänisch) was born on the 22nd of July 1807, in Yaroslavl.Heldt, 1978 Sh ...
's novel ''A Double Life''.


Early life

Barbara Sue Heldt was born on 2 February 1940 at the Sydenham hospital in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Her mother, Margery Sloss, was a New Yorker, while her father Dr John H. Heldt, was from Berlin, Germany. Her brother, John, was born in 1942. She attended the Woodmere Academy, then took her undergraduate degree at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
, where she was a Durant scholar. She studied at the Sorbonne in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. She then returned to New York to study for a M.A. degree at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. Heldt married E. William Monter on 19 June 1963 at Woodmere, Long Island. They had two children: Gustav and Elizabeth. Having obtained a
Ford Foundation Fellowship The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
, she went to the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
to work towards a doctoral degree in Slavic languages. She has been married to Gerald Stanton Smith since 1982.


Career

In 1961, between her graduation and starting the master's programme at Columbia, Heldt worked for the
US Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to propaganda which operated from 1953 to 1999. Previously existing United States Information Service (USIS) posts operating out of U.S. embassies wor ...
in the USSR. She next guided French pharmacists around the US. The money from this work funded the first year of her M.A. In 1966–67, Heldt studied in Moscow under the
Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
. The next year, her doctoral degree was awarded by the University of Chicago and she was hired as an assistant professor in her department, teaching Russian language and literature. In 1976, she joined the University of British Columbia. In 1988, the Association for Women in Slavic Studies, formed the previous year, established a series of prizes, one of which, funded by the
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...
was named the
Heldt Prize The Heldt Prize is a literary award from the Association for Women in Slavic Studies named in honor of Barbara Heldt. The award has been given variously in the following categories: *Best book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian Women's Studies ...
in her honour. Heldt became Professor Emerita at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
in 1996.


Research

Heldt translated
Karolina Pavlova Karolina Karlovna Pavlova () (22 July 1807 – 14 December 1893) was a 19th-century Russian poet and novelist.Terras, 1985, p. 128. Biography Karolina Karlovna Pavlova (née Jänisch) was born on the 22nd of July 1807, in Yaroslavl.Heldt, 1978 Sh ...
's novel ''A Double Life'' in 1978. Pavlova, a nineteenth century Russian poet, had been celebrated in her youth but disdained and disregarded later on, and fell out of the canon in Soviet times. Heldt's translation brought new audiences to Pavlova's work, while the feminist perspective she brought into Pavlova's life and times attracted further study by feminist researchers. Heldt's book ''Terrible Perfection: Women and Russian Literature'' (1987) is considered the first view of Russian literary history through feminist theory. Heldt argued that Western feminist critiques of European literature attempted to raise the feminine from conventional attitudes of inferiority, while in Russia, the feminine was held to an impossible perfect standard that terrified men who could not match it in masculine action and suppressed women who couldn't live up to it. Her analysis revealed that
Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...
was perhaps the only Russian author who achieved a sort of feminist comprehension of women. Meanwhile, Russian women entered the literary sphere in fewer numbers than their western European counterparts and did so mainly in the genres of poetry and memoirs.


Selected works


Books

* * (Translation) * *


Articles

* * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heldt, Barbara Wellesley College alumni University of Chicago faculty Academic staff of the University of British Columbia American expatriate academics in Canada Russian–English translators Russian studies scholars 1940 births Educators from New York City Living people