RUSSIAN LITERATURE 3

The course falls into the learning area "Literatures and cultures" and its title is “Aspects and problems of Russian culture in the first half of XX century". It will involve some aspects of the literary civilisation and of the intellectual debate from 1890 up to Stalin's death (1953), outlining an essential an overall picture of the evolution of Russian and Soviet culture in that time.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● Acquisition of the basic concepts and "cultural specific items" linked to the history and culture of the 20th century in Russia.
● Recognition of the main movements of Russian literature and thought of this period.
● Memorize the salient facts of the lives of the two chosen prose authors.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● Knowledge of how to frame a literary object related to the first sixty years of the twentieth century in its own historical-cultural context.
● Knowledge of how to read and translate a literary text dealt with the teacher and comment on it with an appropriate language.
● Knowledge of how to reconstruct a chronological framework of the main events in Russia from 1890 to 1953.

3. Judgment capacity
● Knowledge of how to formulate and argue simple hypotheses, also developing a critical approach to the evaluation of alternative hypotheses.

4. Communication skills
● Knowledge of how to explain in an appropriate language the specificities of content and historical-literary texts of the program, referring to adequate bibliographic sources.
● Knowledge of how to interact with peers and with the teacher in a critical and respectful way.

5. Learning skills
● Knowledge of how to consult critically the reference texts and the bibliography contained in them by applying the concepts and concepts to the individual research work.

The knowledge of the historic and cultural evolution of Russia from the origins to the Tsardom of Alexander II (as illustrated in the courses of Russian literature 1 and 2). A written comprehension of Russian language at A2/B1 level is required.

The lessons will be of two types:

1) History of Russian literature and culture.
On the background of the fundamental events of the period (World War I; the October Revolution; the Civil war; NEP; Stalinism; the Great Patriotic War) the Lecturer will give the main notions on the following topics: Russian literature before the revolution (the literary movements of Symbolism, Akmeism, Futurism) and literary criticism (Formalism, Marxism); the intellectual life after the revolution: the Twenties; the Thirties and the Socialist realism; Russian emigration; the literature on the Gulag.

2) Close reading of literary texts (in Italian and in Russian, with translation in the classroom by the Lecturer)
We will focus on: the comprehension of the author's style and poetics; the place occupied by the works in the literary evolution of the time; the references to the social and cultural questions.

For a bibliography of the course in English language, please contact the Lecturer.

Oral test in Italian (approx. 30 minutes). The students will have to demonstrate that:
- they have read the PRIMARY TEXTS in-depth and they can determine the main features, also starting from a personal analysis of excerpts from the works (50%: preparation on PRIMARY TEXTS; non-attending students will get interpretative categories by studying the textbook of SECONDARY TEXTS. "B");
- they have a clear, essential picture of the historic and literary evolution of the period between the Revolutions of 1917 and the end of Second World War (30%: preparation on SECONDARY TEXTS, "A");
- they use a clear and appropriate language (20%).

Lectures.

Students are invited to take active part in the discussion of the texts in the classroom. It is important for them to read the texts beforehand at home.

Their commitment at home and in the classroom is important for a good success in the exam and for the expected learning outcomes.

Italian

Students should check the Moodle page of the course at least before every lesson. There they will find handouts for the following lesson which need to be print or read in classroom on PC/tablets.

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