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Research

I am a DPhil student in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages (Slavonic Sub-Faculty) at the University of Oxford and a Hill Foundation Scholar. My research sits at the intersection of book history, the history of reading, the sociology of literature, nationalism, and gender studies, with a focus on the nineteenth-century Russian book market and propaganda. My doctoral project examines Russian literary anthologies (1850–1900) and asks how these collections shaped the literary canon and ideas about national identity, empire, and loyalty. I am particularly interested in how anthologies constructed and addressed different readerships (including women and the peasantry), how they framed the historical past and “the nation”, and how their editorial choices were shaped by dominant ideological currents and imperial state policy. Alongside my DPhil work, I have published on mid-nineteenth-century anthologies and reader audiences, and I have contributed to open research resources on Russian literature. At Oxford, I also teach Russian literature through undergraduate tutoring across colleges and departmental lecturing.

Publications

Anastasiia Oleshchuk, ‘Shaping Ideas about the Russian Empire and its Common Reader: the Case of Nikolai Shcherbina’s Pchela (1865–1881) as a Nation-Building Project’, Slavic and Eastern European Journal (upcoming).

Anastasiia Oleshchuk, ‘Mid-Nineteenth-Century Literary Anthologies: Readership, Book Formats, Gender’, Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 481 (2022), 41–52.

Anastasiia Oleshchuk, ‘Nikolai Nekrasov’s Publishing Project For Easy Reading (1856–1859) as a Legitimation of “Modern Literature” in the Late 1850s’, in Nekrasov in the 21st Century: Proceedings of the International Scholarly Congress (Yaroslavl, Karabikha, 1–2 July 2021), ed. by M. Makeev and others (Yaroslavl: ООО "Академия 76", 2021), pp. 192–193.

Daria Lugovskaia, Pavel Uspenskij, Aleksey Vdovin, Elizaveta Grishechkina, Mariia Gremiakina, Maksim Dremov, Anastasiia Oleshchuk, Alisa Ageeva, Anna Dynina, Daria Korotkova, ‘Dataset “The Circulation of Literary Texts in the Gulag”’, in Open Data Repository on Russian Literature and Folklore. Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), Russian Academy of Sciences (2023), <https://doi.org/10.31860/openlit-2022.11-B007>;.

Anastasiia Oleshchuk, ‘The Finest Examples of Russian Literature (1849–1900): Anthologies of Selected Poetry and Prose, Literary Collections and Almanacs, “Easy Reading” Collections, Anthologies for the People, Anthologies for Women’, in Open Data Repository on Russian Literature and Folklore. Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), Russian Academy of Sciences (2022), <https://doi.org/10.31860/openlit-2021.5-L002>;.

Conferences

‘Constructing Narratives about Russia’s Historical Struggle for the “Western Krai”: the Case of Nikolai Shcher`bina’s Pchela (1865–1881) as a Nation-Building Project’ 
ASEEES Virtual Conference (23–24 October 2025)

‘Nationalising a common reader: Nikolai Shcher`bina’s anthology for popular reading The Bee (1865–1881)’ 
ICCEESS (UCL, 21–25 July 2025) 

‘Constructing a Revolutionary Reader and Revolutionary Propaganda During the Reign of Nicholas II: the case of Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich’s anthology Selected Works of Russian Poetry (1894–1908)’ 
The interdisciplinary workshop ‘Backstage of Modern Art: Market, Industry and Propaganda that Shaped the Art and Literature in 1890- 1960s’ (Brussels, Free University of Brussel (Université libre de Bruxelles, ULB), February 10–12, 2025)

‘Nikolai Nekrasov in Russian literary anthologies of 1850–1900’ 
XIth Conference of Young Researchers ‘Text – Commentary – Interpretation’ (Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, April 22–23, 2022)

‘Anthologies of 1853–1871: repertoire, physical formats and strategies for the representation of a written text’ 
XIth International Youth Conference ‘Textual Science and Historical-Literary Process’ (Moscow, Moscow State University, March 19–21, 2022)

‘Nikolai Nekrasov in Russian literary anthologies of 1850–1900’ 
XLIth Nekrasov’s Conference (Institute of Russian Literature, Russian Academy Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, February 4, 2022)

‘Nikolai Nekrasov’s publishing project “Dlia legkogo chteniia” (1856–1859) as a legitimation of contemporary literature’ 
International Academic Congress ‘Nekrasov in the XXI century’ (Yaroslavl, July 1–2, 2021)

‘Nikolai Nekrasov’s publishing project “Dlia legkogo chteniia” (1856–1859) as a legitimation of contemporary literature’
5th Student Conference of Philologists and Linguists (St. Petersburg, National Research University Higher School of Economics, May 21–22, 2021)

‘Nikolai Nekrasov’s publishing project “Dlia legkogo chteniia” (1856–1859) as a legitimation of contemporary literature’
10th Conference of Young Researchers ‘Text – Commentary – Interpretation’ (Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, April 16–17, 2021)

‘Nikolai Nekrasov’s publishing project “Dlia legkogo chteniia” (1856–1859) as a legitimation of contemporary literature’
10th International Youth Conference ‘Textual Science and Historical-Literary Process’ (Moscow, Moscow State University, March 18–20, 2021)

Talks and Roundtables

Roundtable “Digital Humanities: Methods, Projects, Challenges” (December 5th ) feat. Andrew Kahn, Hanne Eckhoff, Anastasiia Oleshchuk (University of Oxford)