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Academic Year 2003/2004

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

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 19th 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 logic 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 reception by Russian and Western writers and critics.

MAJOR READINGS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

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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