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Academic Year 2003/2004


Speak, Memory: Autobiography and Memoir in Russian Literature
RUSS 220 FA

Crosslistings:
REES 220

Memoirs and autobiographical prose have been a major genre of Russian literature, particularly for women, since the 18th century. They offer a chance for the individual to make sense of his or her relationship to larger historical forces and allow writers of fiction and poetry to reflect on the tensions between biography and the creative process. We will read major works from the 18th century to the present, including Nadezhda Durova's account of her life on the front lines in the Napoleonic Wars; Dostoevsky's prison memoirs; the poet Mandelstam's reminiscences of a prerevolutionary childhood and his wife's account of Stalin's terror; and intense memories of childhood by Marina Tsvetaeva and Vladimir Nabokov. Attention will be paid throughout the course to related theoretical problems (narratology, feminism, historiography, etc.). All works will be read in English translation.

MAJOR READINGS

MEMOIRS OF PRINCESS NATALYA DOLGORUKAYA
Nadezhda Durova, THE CAVALRY MAID
Lev Tolstoy, CHILDHOOD
Fedor Dostoevsky, THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD
Vera Figner, MEMOIRS OF A REVOLUTIONIST
Viktor Shklovsky, THIRD FACTORY; ZOO, OR LETTERS NOT ABOUT LOVE
Osip Mandelstam, THE NOISE OF TIME
Nadezhda Mandelstam, HOPE AGAINST HOPE
Marina Tsvetaeva, Selected works
Evgenia Ginzburg, JOURNEY INTO THE WHIRLWIND
Vladimir Nabokov, SPEAK, MEMORY
Sasha Lehrman, THE SONG OF THE REED
Selected theoretical works.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Three papers (5-7 pp.), oral presentations.

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-19-2004


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