RUSSIAN LITERATURE

The course falls into the learning area "Literatures and cultures" and is entitled “Russian Soviet Literature 1917-1953". 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 1953, key events, works and major trends.
● Familiarization with the central figures of Russian literature between 1917 and 1953.
● 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; Babel, Bulgakov, Platonov, Zamyatin; Formation of the Soviet reader and writer; Russian Poetry (Mandelstam, Akhmatova, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva); 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”.

oral

1) Regarding the grading of the grade (the way in which the grades will be assigned), regardless of the
attending or non-attending mode:
A. scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and ability to understand applied in reference to the program;
- limited ability to collect and/or interpret data, formulating independent judgments;
- sufficient communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language that pertains to the
economic functioning of public services;
B. scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- fair knowledge and ability to understand applied in reference to the program;
- fair ability to collect and/or interpret data, formulating independent judgments;
- fair communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language that pertains to the
economic functioning of public services;
C. scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- good or excellent knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the program;
- good or excellent ability to collect and/or interpret data, formulating independent judgments;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language that
pertains to the economic functioning of public services.
D. honors will be awarded in the presence of knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the
program, judgment and communication skills, excellent.
2) Evaluation grid:
28-30L: mastery of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; ability to hierarchize information;
use of appropriate technical terminology;
26-27: good knowledge of the topics covered in class and, to a lesser extent, in the manuals; fair ability
in organizing information and presenting it orally; familiarity with technical terminology;
24-25: not always in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; oral presentation
orderly but with not always correct use of technical terminology;
22-23: often superficial knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; oral presentation
unclear and lacking in technical terminology;
18-21: knowledge at times incomplete of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; oral presentation confused,
with little use of technical terminology.
3) As regards the grading of the grade, the scores will be assigned according to the following scheme:
A. scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of sufficient knowledge of the authors and sufficient

Lectures given by the Professor.