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Academic Year 2001/2002


Gogol: Witches, Con Men and Runaway Noses
RUSS 277 SP

Crosslistings:
REES 277

Close reading and analysis of the fictional and dramatic works of Nikolai Gogol (1809-52), who along with Alexander Pushkin dominated the Russian literary scene of the first half of the nineteenth century. Gogol created a phantasmagorical world of devils and witches coexisting with the gritty details of life in St. Petersburg and the Russian provinces. His satirical observations delighted socially-conscious contemporary critics, while his linguistic experimentation and subversion of the rules of l ogic inspired modernist writers at the beginning of the twentieth century. We will consider Gogol's response to Romantic aesthetics, the permutations of his interest in the demonic, his appropriation of the legacy of Pushkin, and the history of his recept ion by Russian and Western writers and critics.

MAJOR READINGS

"Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Auntie"
"Vii"
Essays from ARABESQUES
"Nevsky Avenue"
"The Portrait"
"The Nose"
"The Overcoat"
MARRIAGE
THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
DEAD SOULS
Excerpts from SELECTED PASSAGES FROM CORRESPONDENCE WITH FRIENDS
Nabokov, GOGOL
Fanger, THE CREATION OF NIKOLAI GOGOL
Karlinsky, THE SEXUAL LABYRINTH OF NIKOLAY GOGOL
Fusso and Meyer, eds., ESSAYS ON GOGOL

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Frequent short ungraded papers; two papers for a grade. Attendance and participation required.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RUSS    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2002


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