Polina Barskova, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, is working on a dissertation entitled Writing the End: In Search of Lost Plot in Leningrad Literature of the 1920s. This project examines the rebirth of the modernist novel in Leningrad of the 1920s in light of the political and social fragmentation of the city. Drawing on a vast range of material, from literature and film to the popular press and urban planning reports, Barskova shows how artistic texts previously considered apolitical fit within a framework of political and ideological upheaval. In addition to her scholarly work, Barskova is a published poet, with six books of poetry to her name.