Biography
Serenity Stanton Orengo is a PhD student in Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois. She received her B.A. in Russian and Slavic Studies and English and American Literature from New York University in 2012, and her M.A. in Slavic Cultures from Columbia University in 2014. Her dissertation explores depictions of transgressive motherhood in nineteenth-century Russian fiction, particularly instances of abortion, contraceptive use, and infanticide.
Research Interests
Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Russian Literature
Maternity
Women's Reproductive Health (Abortion, Contraception)
Medicine in Literature
Gender and Sexuality in Literature and Film
Women's Writing
Research Description
Selected Conference Presentations:
“Desperation and Retribution: Examining Infanticide in Chekhov’s Short Fiction.” Annual Conference of the American Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), Washington D.C. Upcoming.
“‘Am I a Real Soviet Woman?’: Reimagining Motherhood in Soviet Women’s Writing.” Annual Conference of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL), AWSS Gender and Sexuality Stream, San Diego, CA, February 2020
“Contraception and the Breakdown of the Family: Narrating the Adulterous Mother in Anna Karenina” Annual Conference ofthe American Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), Chicago, November 2017.
“False Wizards and False Tsars: The Implications of Undeserved Power in Fantasia and Ivan the Terrible.” Midwest Slavic Conference, Columbus, April 2016.
“A Body of Rumors: Countess Elena Bezukhov and the Narration of Abortion in Tolstoy’s War and Peace.” Annual Conference of the American Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), Philadelphia, November 2015.
“Misunderstanding or Perfect Comprehension?: Katyusha, Nekhlyudov, and the Inability to Communicate in Tolstoy’s Resurrection.” Interdisciplinary Forum in Slavic Studies, The University of Chicago, April 2015.
Book Reviews:
Limits to Interpretation: The Meanings of Anna Karenina, Vladimir E Alexandrov. In Russian Language Journal, Vol. 68, 2018
Education
M.A., Columbia University, 2014
B.A., New York University, 2012
Grants
Title VIII, Arizona State University, Critical Language Institute, Summer 2016
FLAS Fellowship , University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign , Academic Year 2016 - 2017
Title VIII Grant , Arizona State University, Critical Language Institute, Summer 2016
FLAS Fellowship , University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign , Academic Year 2014 - 2015
Summer Departmental Fellowship , University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, Summer 2015
Research Fellowship for Slavic Bibliographers , Columbia University, Winter 2013/ 2014
Courses Taught
RUSS 101: Elementary Russian I
RUSS 102: Elementary Russian II
RUSS 201: Intermediate Russian I
RUSS 202: Intermediate Russian II