Russian religious culture, painting, music, architecture, the folk tradition, and socio-political movements will all provide the context for our study of Russian literature, beginning with the ancient historical chronicles and the lives of early Russian saints, and ending in the early 20th century with works such as Alexander Blok's The Twelve and Mikhail Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog. Class discussions will be supplemented by frequent video, internet, and musical presentations. First-Year Students only. A two-semester survey focusing on Realism in Russia, in particular the fiction of Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. Topics include the nature of Realism, the quest for a positive hero in Russian literature, the Russian soul, and Russia's relationship with the West.
Literary movements covered include decadence, proletarian literature, and modernism.
The Brothers Karamazov Gasperetti. A multifaceted investigation into the philosophical, psychological, theological, and political determinants of Dostoevsky's most complex novel. Discussions highlight a variety of themes, from the author's visionary political predictions and rejection of materialism to his critique of rationalism and mockery of literary convention. Throughout the history of Russian literature, the genres of autobiographies, memoirs, and diaries have provided a venue for women writers to find their voices in a private arena safely distanced from the dominant genres of novels and lyric poetry. This course examines the history and development of the female memoir in Russian literature from the 18th-century political memoirs of Catherine the Great to documents of the Stalinist terror and prison camp life of the 20th century.