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Academic Year 2004/2005

Reading Stories
RUSS 240 SP
Crosslistings:
REES 240

How does narrative form create meaning? Many of the best works of 19th-century Russian literature reflect upon the nature of storytelling and the capacity of stories to represent truth. In the 20th century, Russian literary theoreticians like Shklovsky, Tynianov, Eikhenbaum, and Bakhtin joined fiction writers in developing a powerful and useful critical vocabulary for describing and understanding narrative. Their work led them and writers of their generation into innovative experiments in short fiction. This course looks at the creative interplay between story writing and thinking about stories in modern Russian literature. We will read short stories and short novels by Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Mandelstam, Zoshchenko, Babel, Bulgakov, and Platonov. We will also read articles and selected chapters on theory by Iser, Hirsch, Booth, Bakhtin, Lotman, Frye, and Jakobson.

MAJOR READINGS

Pushkin, "Queen of Spades," THE BELKIN TALES
Gogol, "Ivan Shponka and his Aunt," THE NOSE
Turgenev, FIRST LOVE
Dostoevsky, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Tolstoy, DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH, MASTER AND MAN
Chekhov, "Lady with the Dog," "Anna on the Neck," "The Name-Day Party,"
Zoshchenko, "Victoria Kazimirovna," "The Aristocrat," "The Bathhouse"
Babel, "How it was Done in Odessa"
Bulgakov, THE HEART OF A DOG
Platonov, POTUDAN RIVER
Nabokov, NABOKOV'S DOZEN

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Four short papers, final exam

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

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-21-2005

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