He is particularly known for his scholarly work on the great Russian novelists Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin.

Gary Saul Morson was born in New York City and attended the Bronx High School of Science.

In 1974 Morson started teaching at the University of Pennsylvania where he later became chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

[2] Morson is the editor of a scholarly book series titled Studies in Russian Literature and Theory (SRLT) published by Northwestern University Press, which the publisher described as "reflecting trends within the field of Slavic studies over the years .

"[3] Gary Saul Morson lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife Katharine Porter, a psychiatrist whom he married in 2003.