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Speak, Memory: Autobiography and Memoir in Russian Literature
RUSS220 SP

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 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

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Additional Requirements and/or Comments not known

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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

Prerequisites: NONE

Last Updated on MAR-24-2000

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