Two of his books were published in 2017. One of his books was published in 2018. Now, Slav Gratchev, a Marshall University Spanish professor and scholar, has another book set for publication in the spring and a new project underway. 

Gratchev, a professor in his eighth year with Marshall’s department of modern languages, said his book “Mikhail Bakhtin: The Duvakin Interviews, 1973” will be published in May. Gratchev said this book will include the first ever English translation of 12 hours of interviews with Mikhail Bakhtin, a prominent Russian thinker, which were stored in a scientific library at Moscow University in Russia.

Gratchev said his co-editor Margarita Marinova translated the interviews from their original Russian into English, with him assisting. He said the interviews were translated completely from audio, with no transcript for reference, and they were also translated exactly, with sighs and pauses and exaltations providing more accuracy. 

The book will also include an introduction and 700 commentaries, written by Gratchev, to put the Western reader in the context of what is going on, he said. 

Gratchev’s 2018 book “Mikhail Bakhtin’s Heritage in Literature, Arts, and Psychology: Art and Answerability,” also focused on Bakhtin and included contributions by Gractchev. He said the book is a multi-author volume of work by 16 scholars from six countries, which he edited and wrote an introduction and one chapter for. 

Gratchev said Bakhtin, whom he described as his “favorite literary critic, philosopher and theoretician of the 20th century,” has a wide influence. He said Bakhtin’s theories can be applied in arts, psychology, philosophy and literature.

In addition to having an interest in Bakhtin, Gratchev said, as a Spanish professor, he is also interested in Cervantes’ Don Quixote. 

Gratchev is preparing another edited volume called “Don Quixote Around the Globe: Perceptions and Interpretations,” which will include the work of 13 scholars from nine countries. He said this volume has already been accepted by a prestigious publisher, and he anticipates it will appear in the next couple of years. 

One of Gratchev’s other works in this area includes his 2017 book “Don Quixote: The Re-Accentuation of the World’s Greatest Literary Hero,” a multi-author volume containing scholarship from 18 scholars from eight countries, which Gratchev contributed to and edited. Gratchev’s book “The Polyphonic World of Cervantes and Dostoevsky,” which was published in 2017, was written completely by him without outside contributions, Gratchev said.

Natsuki Anderson, chair of Marshall’s department of modern languages and a professor of Japanese, said she believes Gratchev’s specialty is bringing scholarship to Marshall’s campus and creating opportunities to talk about theory. She said she thinks he has made a huge contribution, because through his ties to Russia he has been able to access rare archives, such as photos that can be seen in his books, which will now appear in academia. She also said she is not surprised he has been experiencing success with the publications he has had over past few years. 

“This department consists of many faculty with diverse backgrounds,” Anderson said. “We hired Dr. Slav as a Spanish professor who is from Russia. That’s really unique. And although he’s not a native English speaker, his English is very superb, and his writing in English, it’s excellent. So, I’m not surprised that he’s so successful with these publications of these books.”

Jesten Richardson can be contacted at [email protected].