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Literature and Revolution
Tradition, Innovation, and Politics in 20th-Century Russian Culture
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Russian V3221
Spring
2009
TR
1:10-2:25 225
Milbank |
Prof.
Rebecca Stanton
226A Milbank, x4-3313
rstanton [at] barnard [dot]
edu
Office hours: Weds. 12-2
and by appt. |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides a “big picture” survey of Russian literature and culture from pre-Revolutionary Symbolism to the culture of high Stalinism and beyond. While it is primarily a literature course, and our chief focus will necessarily be the analysis of texts, we will consider our texts against the background of their cultural and political environment, complementing them with works from the visual and musical arts. Among the questions we shall ponder are the following: how did Russian writers respond to their changing political context in the 20 th century? In what ways are the artistic traditions of the Russian 20 th century continuous with those of the 19 th, and in what ways do they break away from the legacy of the 19 th century greats (Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky...)? What relationships obtained among folk culture, mass culture, and “high” culture in 20 th-century Russia ?
Please note:
(1) Some of the reading assignments will be on the heavy side (i.e, over 100pp. per class session); please look ahead, and plan accordingly. To reward you for keeping up-to-date with the reading, your participation in classroom and online discussions has been weighted at 30% of your final grade.
(2) This class is discussion-based. Your opinions are not only welcome, but positively required!
The musical and visual components of the course will be played/shown in class. An archive of these materials will also be available on the course website at http://russian.psydeshow.org/.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Participation in classroom and online discussions………………............... 30%
- Two 3-page papers, each developing a theme or question
you raised in one of your online comments………………………………. 30%
- Midterm assignment (one hour, on Courseworks) ………….………….... 10%
- Final …………………………………………………………………… 30%
ABOUT ONLINE DISCUSSIONS
Over the course of the semester, you must contribute substantively to at least 20 of the online discussions at the class blog, http://russian.psydeshow.org/ , which will take place before each class. (This means you should plan on participating before every class, but you can skip up to 6 times without penalty.) Your contributions should average about 150-200 words (roughly a paragraph), although extreme concision, as well as the occasional 300-word burst of enthusiasm, are welcome. Your contribution may be a provocative question or questions; a response to questions posted by another student (or by the instructor); a defense or rebuttal of a position taken by another student (remember to be respectful in dissent); or an analysis of a particular passage or moment in the text that seems significant to you. Please read any contributions that have been posted by your classmates before adding your own. The deadline for contributing to the discussion is NOON on the day of class. The blog is password-protected; for reasons that will become apparent by April, the username is zhivago and the password is lara.
To receive full credit, your contribution should be thoughtful, specific, and explicitly linked to a particular passage or passages in the text(s) being discussed (give page numbers where appropriate).
BOOKS
The following books have been ordered into Book Culture ( 112 th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam ):
- Andrei Bely, Petersburg ( Indiana UP)
- Isaac Babel, Red Cavalry and Other Stories (Penguin)
- Yevgeny Zamiatin, We (Eos)
- Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (Vintage)
- Vladimir Nabokov, The Gift (Vintage)
- Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago (Pantheon)
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
- Venedikt Erofeev, Moscow to the End of the Line (Northwestern UP)
Please use the above-listed editions whenever possible. This is particularly important in the case of the works by Bely, Bulgakov, and Solzhenitsyn, which exist in multiple translation, some of which were done from heavily expurgated Soviet editions.
All other readings (marked with an asterisk in the schedule) will be included in a course reader, which will be available for purchase in the Barnard Slavic Dept. second week of the semester.
SCHEDULE
| Date
|
Topics
and Readings |
| January
|
|
| Tu 20
|
Introduction
The broad trajectory of Russian
literature and culture in the 20th century; introduction to
the course and its aims. |
|
|
Revolutionary
Modernism, I: Symbolism |
| Th 22
|
Andrei
Bely, Petersburg, pp. 1-96 |
| Tu 27
|
Petersburg, pp. 97-216 (big assignment;
plan ahead!)
Music: Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades
(Act II, Scene 3)
Visual Arts: early Malevich, Rozanova (Cubist
cityscapes) |
| Th 29
|
Petersburg, pp. 217-293. |
| February |
|
| Tu 3
|
*Aleksandr
Blok, The Twelve.
Music: Stravinsky, Petrouchka (Parts 1-2)
Visual Arts: Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Goncharova
|
|
|
Revolutionary
Modernism, II: Futurism |
| Th 5
|
*Short
poems and manifesti by Mayakovsky, Kruchenykh, Khlebnikov.
*Background reading: Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti, Italian Futurist writings (excerpts)
Music: Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring [excerpts]
Visual Arts: Malevich (suprematist paintings),
Cubo-Futurist collaborations |
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The “Fellow Travelers”: from Revolution to Stalinism (1917-1940) |
|
|
1. The Civil War. |
|
Tu 10 |
Isaac Babel, Red Cavalry
(assignment TBA)
Visual Arts: Mark Chagall |
| Th 12
|
Red
Cavalry, cont.
|
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2. The New Economic Policy (NEP). |
| Tu 17 |
Yury Olesha, Envy, Part
One*
Visual Arts: Kandinsky, theories of color; objective
Cubism (Malevich, Knife Grinder; Filonov, Victory
over Eternity). |
| Th 19
|
Envy, Part Two* |
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3. Dystopia. |
| Tu 24 |
Evgeny Zamiatin, We, Ch.
1-23 |
| Th 26
|
We, cont.(Ch. 24-end).
Visual Arts: Malevich, late works; Constructivism
Film: Aelita, Queen of Mars
|
| March |
|
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4. Jesters of the 1920s and ’30s. |
| Tu 3 |
*Daniil Kharms, selections from Incidences.
*Mikhail Zoshchenko, short
stories: “Nervous People,” “The Lady Aristocrat,” “The Bathhouse,” “The
Galosh,” “The Pushkin Centennial.” |
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5. The Stalinist ’30s. |
| Th 5 |
Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master
and Margarita, pp. 3-132 (big assignment;
plan ahead!)
|
| Tu 10
|
The
Master and Margarita, pp.
133-254 (big assignment;
plan ahead!)
Music: TBA |
| Th 12
|
The
Master and Margarita, pp.
255-335 |
| 14-21
|
SPRING
BREAK |
| |
The Émigré Scene |
| Tu 24 |
Vladimir Nabokov, The Gift,
Ch. 1 & 2 (pp. 3-145). (big
assignment; plan ahead!) |
Th 26 |
The Gift, Ch. 3 (pp. 146-211) and Foreword.
Visual Arts: Marianna von Werefkin; late Kandinsky
|
| Tu 31
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The Gift, Ch. 4-5 (pp. 146-366). (big assignment;
plan ahead!)
|
| April |
|
| |
Proletarian Voices |
| Th 2 |
Texts TBA (will be
provided on Courseworks) |
|
|
After
Stalin: Thaw, Freeze, Stagnation |
| |
1. A Suppressed Classic: Doctor Zhivago |
| Tu 7 |
Boris Pasternak, Doctor
Zhivago, Ch. 1-4 (pp. 3-128) = 126 pages
Music: Medtner, Violin Sonata No. 1 in B minor,
Op. 21; Tchaikovsky, Piano Trio; Scriabin, Prometheus |
| Th 9
|
Doctor
Zhivago, Ch. 5-7 (pp.
131-253) = 122 pages |
Tu 14 |
Doctor
Zhivago, Ch. 8-13 (pp.
254-418) = 164 pages (plan ahead!)
Music: Shostakovich, Piano Trio (3rd
mvt.) |
| Th 16
|
Doctor
Zhivago, Ch. 14-17 (pp.
419-559) = 140 pages. |
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2. The Literature of the GULag. |
| Tu 21 |
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The GULag Archipelago (excerpt, on handout); One
Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, pp. 3-93 (to the words,
"...Don't wait for the whistle"). |
| Th 23
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One
Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, p. 93-end..
|
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3. Post-Utopian Irony. |
| Tu 28 |
Venedikt Erofeev, Moscow to the End of the Line, pp. 11-91.
Visual Arts: Komar and Melamid. |
| Th 30
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Moscow
to the End of the Line, p.
91-end; wrap-up and conclusion. |
…………
Tu May 12 |
…………………………….
FINAL EXAM, 1:10-4PM |
To
Course Homepage
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