David Cooper is an Associate Professor in and the Head of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
What is the focus of your current work and/or subject of your current research?
I am wrapping up a long-term book project on the Czech forged manuscripts, a series of fake medieval manuscripts that were "discovered" in the second decade of the nineteenth century. They were not just a very successful forgery, fooling experts for 60 years, but also became remarkably important to the Czech national movement at a moment critical to its ultimate success. We learn a lot about national culture, romantic medievalism, and literary trends by studying these forgeries.
What classes do you teach? What are some of the topics of those classes?
In addition to courses in my core areas--19th-century Russian literature and Czech language and literature--I have enjoyed developing some courses that stretch me as a teacher and scholar, including courses on the History of Translation and on Postcommunist Fiction (focused on the novel in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989).
Do you have any recent awards, honors, or publications that you would like to highlight?
My translation and edition of the Czech forged manuscripts, entitled "The Queen's Court and Green Mountain Manuscripts, with Other Forgeries of the Czech Revival," won the 2019 award for Best Scholarly Translation from AATSEEL (the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages).
What is a book (academic or non-academic, in or outside your field) that you think should be more widely read?
I think Nikolai Gogol's story collection, "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka," is underappreciated. Everyone reads his Petersburg stories, but the Ukrainian tales are a romp!
Is there any additional information or advice you'd like to share?
I begin every semester by telling my students that they have to read their textbooks, not just in literature courses (which should be obvious) but in every course they take. It's the most fundamental key to success.