Anne Hruska
English Instructor
Anne Hruska been working at Stanford OHS since 2014. She earned a Ph.D. in Russian Literature from U.C. Berkeley;and has taught at the University of Missouri, the Pedagogical Institute in Saratov, Russia, and in the Introduction to the Humanities program at Stanford. One of Dr. Hruska's favorite things about teaching at Stanford OHS is the creative freedom that she has to write curriculum, and teach classes in the way that she thinks works best.
Dr. Hruska's most recent courses at Stanford OHS include “Taking Literature Apart” (8th grade English), and “Worlds of Literature” (7th grade English), as well as an advanced course at the high school level on Russian literature. In all her classes she works from a joyful, scholarly approach to literary analysis, focusing on habits of thought that she hopes students will continue to build on throughout their lives.
Besides her classes, Dr. Hruska is also involved in projects with student outreach and teaching online pedagogy. She is especially interested in building community at Stanford OHS for students who, like her, are neurodivergent.
When she's not teaching, Dr. Hruska enjoys reading, music, spending time with my family, and being near water and trees.
Publications
“Emancipation and the Great Reforms." Tolstoy in Context, edited by Anna Berman, Cambridge UP, 2022
“On the Meaning of Serfdom.” Critical Insights: War and Peace. Ed. Leighton B. Cooke. Amenia, NY: Grey House, 2014
“MacKay, John, Trans., Ed., and Intro. Four Russian Serf Narratives. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2009.” Slavic and East European Journal 55:2 (Summer 2011), 306–308
“Medzhibovskaya, Inessa. Tolstoy and the Religious Culture of his Time: A Biography of a Long Conversion, 1845-1887. Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books, 2008.” Slavic and East European Journal 53:2 (Summer 2009), 282–3
“Rancour-Laferriere, Daniel. Tolstoy’s Quest for God. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2007.” The Russian Review 67: 3 (July 2008), 502–503
“Love and Slavery: Serfdom, Emancipation, and Family in Tolstoy’s Fiction.” The Russian Review. 66 (2007), 627–646
“Why You Should Read The Idiot, and How Best to Go About It.” Introduction. The Idiot. By Fyodor Dostoevsky. Bantam Classics Series. New York: Bantam Books, 2005
“The Sins of Children in The Brothers Karamazov: Serfdom, Hierarchy, and Transcendence.” Christianity and Literature 54 (2005), 471–495. Reprinted in Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 202, 111–123
“Infected Families: Outsider Figures in the Works of Leo Tolstoy.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 2001
“Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy’s Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.” Slavic and East European Journal 44 (2000), 64–78. Reprinted in: Twentieth Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 173, 344–353
“Ghosts in the Garden: Ann Radcliffe and Tolstoy’s Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.” Tolstoy Studies Journal. Vol. 9 (1997), 1–10