This course analyzes two of the world’s greatest transnational 
novels, Leo Tolstoy’s "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina," in 
their historical contexts and examines a variety of film 
adaptations. What makes Tolstoy Russian literature’s most 
exportable and cinegenic author? How should one evaluate film 
adaptations of literary works? "War and Peace" will be read in 
English translation and discussed in conjunction with in-class 
screenings of what many have called the “apogee of epic film,” 
Sergei Bondarchuk’s 1965-7 "War and Peace" (shown with English 
subtitles). Students will be required to familiarize themselves 
with the lexicon of technical vocabulary surrounding both book 
and film and to reflect critically on the key terms of “novel”
and “epic.” It is expected that every student will gain or 
improve their knowledge of epic, novelistic, and cinematographic 
devices from the “in medias res” opening of epic to the “free 
indirect discourse” of narrative and the use of “freeze frames” 
in movies. Students will use these terms, among others, to 
participate in discussion, both in class and online, and to 
craft a series of two formal in-class presentations, each of 
approximately 10 minutes. The devices and production values of 
Bondarchuk’s film will be contrasted with those of King Vidor’s 
1956 Hollywood version of "War and Peace." The thesis that the 
Soviet epic systematically reacts against this prior American 
model will be introduced and evaluated.

Students will also be expected to learn about the history and 
culture of Europe and Russia in the first two decades of the 
Nineteenth Century. 

Students will acquaint themselves with the history of Napoleon 
Bonaparte’s rise and fall, and terms such as “tsar-
worship,” “the Table of Ranks,” and “serfdom” will prove 
indispensable for in-class and online discussion as well as the 
three formal essays students will draft and edit.

Reading and discussion of "Anna Karenina," too, will be 
interspersed with film selections. Shown and analyzed in its 
entirety, the 1967 Alexander Zarkhi Soviet screen version will 
be contrasted with episodes chosen from the more than 20 other 
feature films and television series also based on Tolstoy’s 
novel. Again, students will be expected to master technical 
vocabularies for analysis drawn from film and literary studies.  
The novel will be treated both as "Bildungsroman" and as "roman 
a these." In interpretation of the films, the conventions of 
popular "chick flicks" will be introduced, discussed, and used 
in 
analysis.

Course participants will again be expected to learn about the 
history and culture of Europe and Russia, this time with an 
emphasis on the 1870s. Particular attention will be devoted to 
the anglomania and gallomania characteristic of the Russian 
aristocracy and to the contrasting symbolism of Russia’s capital 
cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Throughout the course, students will be required to improve 
their skills in close reading of literary texts, in discussion 
of cinema, and in public speaking. They will also become more 
proficient writers and editors: three formal essays in English 
will be mandatory. These will be based on responses to readings 
and films the students will author on our course eLC website as 
brainstorming exercises. 
  
Students will also have the option to post drafts of their 
essays on eLC ahead of final submission deadlines. These will 
then be revised in accordance with suggestions from the 
instructor.

1. Introduction

2.  "War and Peace," vol. 1: epic devices; the totemic cultural 
symbolism of the bear; contrasting depictions of the Russian and 
Prussian armies; the theme of the "little man"; symbolic 
identifications of Pierre Bezukhov and General Kutuzov; the 
battle of Austerllitz; free indirect discourse; Bondarchuk's 
film, part 1, "Andrei Bolkonsky"

3.  "War and Peace," vol. 2: the glamor of dueling and gambling 
in Russian culture; Freemasonry and its absence from 
Bondarchuk's atheist film; the problem of serfdom; holy 
foolishness; Nikolay's hospital visit as a Russianization of 
Napoleon and the plague victims at Jaffa; Mikhail Speransky's 
legal reforms; the ball in Russian aristocratic culture; the 
wolf hunt in Russian aristocratic and peasant culture; 
Bondarchuk's film, part 2, "Natasha Rostova"; Vidor's film 
version

4.  "War and Peace," vol. 3: Tolstoy's polemic with the "great 
man" theory of history; serfdom and peasant rebellions; the icon 
in Russian culture and military history; the Battle of Borodino 
and burning of Moscow; Bondarchuk's film part 3, "1812"; class 
presentations; first formal essay due

5.  "War and Peace," vol. 4:  Platon Karatayev, the embodiment 
of peasant simplicity and truth; the death of Petya; 
Bondarchuk's film parts 3 and 4, "1812" and "Pierre Bezukhov"; 
class presentations

6.  "War and Peace," First and Second Epilogues; philosophical 
theories of history and the individual's role; Bondarchuk's film 
part 4, "Pierre Bezukhov"

7.  "War and Peace" in other films and TV series

8.  "Anna Karenina," the Biblical epigraph and part 1:  devices 
of characterization; synechdoche; the theme of portents; Levin 
as a reconstitution of the Bezukhov prototype; Zarkhi's film; 
second formal essay due

9. "Anna Karenina," part 2: equine symbolism; the identification 
of Frou-Frou with Anna; Tolstoy's Germany; Zarkhi's film

10. "Anna Karenina," part 3: "flow"(Csíkszentmihályi) in 
Konstantine Levin's mowing; Zarkhi's film

11. "Anna Karenina," part 4; the symbolism of the "muzhik" in 
Russian culture and Anna's nightmares; Vronsky's attempted 
suicide and theories of masochism; Zarkhi's film

12. "Anna Karenina," part 5: Tolstoy's Italy and Anna and 
Vronsky's "honeymoon" there; Nikolai Levin's death and the only 
chapter subtitled in the novel; Zarkhi's film

13. "Anna Karenina," part 6: perspectivism and free indirect 
discourse from the point of view of a dog; Anna and 
theatricality; Zarkhi's film

14. "Anna Karenina," part 6: the birth of Levin's child in novel 
and cinema; Anna's dramatic monologue and suicide by train;  
Tolstoy's polemic with industrialization; Zarkhi's film

15. "Anna Karenina" part 8: the Serbian War as Vronsky's escape; 
Tolstoy's pacifism; the valorization of Konstantine Levin and 
his marriage

16. Optional out-of-class screening of the 2012 British "Anna 
Karenina" movie

17.  Other "Anna Karenina" films

18.  Student presentations and submission of final essay

Students will be expected to familiarize themselves with and to 
follow "A Culture of Honesty," the University's policy for 
handling cases of suspected dishonesty, which can be found at 
www.uga.edu/ovpi.