RUSSIAN LITERATURE

The course falls into the learning area "Literatures and cultures" and is entitled “Russian Soviet Literature 1917-1964". It focuses on some key aspects of Russian literary development of 20th century, outlining major stages of its history, movements and central figures and discusses key works.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● Acquaintance with the history of Russian literature from 1917 to 1964, key events, works and major trends.
● Familiarization with the central figures of Russian literature between 1917 and 1964.
● Acquaintance of the key authors and literary texts.
● Development of cultural awareness, critical analysis, creative thinking and intellectual independence.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● Students will learn how to demonstrate a basic knowledge of key features of cultural and historical analysis of literary texts.
● Students will learn how to use a basic special vocabulary for discussing literary history development, how to build a structured and reasoned argument to support ideas about a literary text and evaluate secondary sources.
● Students will be able to interpret literary texts of the period in its historical context.
● Students will be able to discuss key historical and literary events of the revolutionary and Stalin era and apply critical concepts in the context of various manifestations in the history of Russian literature.

3. Judgment capacity
● Students will be able to gather, process and evaluate critically information from a variety of paper and electronic sources.
● Students will develop conceptual approach to the materials they will be working with and will learn how to provide during the exam substantial proof for the ideas that were developed during of the course.
● Students will develop skills for independent research and the ability to analyse literary texts.

4. Communication skills
● Development of verbal and written communicative skills in target language.
● Development of quality of expression of ideas (appropriate register/specialised terms) in target language.
● Development of linguistic competence in target language in the process of preparation for the exam.

5. Learning skills
● Development of awareness of and engagement with range of debates and critical (secondary) works in target language.
● Development of independent analyses and interpretation with primary sources in target language.

The knowledge of the historic, cultural and literary evolution of Russia of 19th and 20th centuries. Russian language at B1/B2 level is required.

The lectures will cover the following topics: Russian literature of the 1920s Formation of the Soviet reader and writer; Emergence of Socialist realism. Theory/Doctrine/Institutions; Representation of the hero and sacrifice. Re-forging. Collectivism. Fadeev’s "The Rout", Serafimovich’s "The Iron Flood", Furmanov’s "Chapaev"; Representation of the leader. Enemy Representation; Monumentalism and Epic prose. Sholokhov’s "And Quiet Flows the Don" and "Virgin Soil Upturned", Aleksei Tolstoi’s "The Road to Calvary"; Folk and kitsch. Soviet poetry; Images of the past in Aleksei Tolstoi’s "Peter the First"; Images of the present in an industrial Novel. Reception of Socialist Realism in post-Soviet Russia and in the West.

Edward J. Brown. Russian Literature Since the Revolution: Revised and Enlarged Edition (1982)
Victor Erlich. Modernism and Revolution: Russian Literature in Transition (1994)
Evgeny Dobrenko and Marina Balina. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Russian Literature (2011)
Andrew Kahn, Mark Lipovetsky, et al. A History of Russian Literature (2023)
Simon Franklin , Rebecca Reich, et al. The New Cambridge History of Russian Literature (2025)

The oral exam (in Russian) will be as follows: all students will receive a list of three questions that were discussed during the course in lectures and seminars. The questions will cover the topics covered during the classes. From this list, each student will choose one topic and prepare it for the exam. Each exam will last up to 20 minutes. For EAPLL students who are required to obtain 12 cfu, the grade received in this exam will average with the grade received in "Russian Literature Mod. 2”.

Lectures given by the Professor.

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