Course Description
Survey of representative works in contemporary Russian literature, art, and cinema. Discussion of key literary and artistic movements. The political significance of contemporary Russian literature, art, and cinema and the relationship between art and political institutions. Taught in Russian.
Athena Title
Politically Incorrect
Prerequisite
RUSS 3001 or RUSS 3011 or RUSS 2010
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course examines contemporary Russian literature and art, which seek to question the establishment and transgress its boundaries. For each of the works studied we will analyze its strategies of representation as it pushes against accepted political, social, aesthetic and ethical norms. Our texts will include the “homosexual literature” of Evgenii Kharitonov; the “feminist fiction” of Liudmila Petrushevskaia, Tatiana Tolstaya and Elena Shvartz; the conceptualist texts of Vladimir Sorokin; the sexual-mystical prose of Yuri Mamleev; the style- and genre-breaking novels of Sasha Sokolov and Venedict Erofeev; the pop post-modernism of Viktor Pelevin; the miniature prose of Viktor Goliavkin and Anatolii Gavrilov, and others. We will also pay attention to contemporary Russian art and cinema. Students will be evaluated on the basis of written assignments such as compositions and short reflective papers, participation in class discussions, and oral presentations.
Topical Outline
The following is a representative outline. Appropriate texts and other material illustrating the various topics will be chosen at the discretion of the instructor. 1. Introduction 2. How Did Underground Literature Reach Its Public: Samizdat/Tamizdat 3. Camp Prose of Varlam Shalamov 4. Anti-Soviet Songs of Alexander Galich 5. Lianozovo School: Prose and Poetry of Igor Kholin and Genrikh Sapgir 6. Women Artists: Liudmila Petrushevskaia and Tatiana Tolstaya 7. Russian Rock Music as a Form of Social Protest 8. The Other in Literature: Homosexual Prose of Evgenii Kharitonov 9. Contemporary Literature as Spiritual Philosophy: Prose of Yuri Mamleev 10. Literary Science Fiction: Short Stories of Viktor Pelevin 11. Sots Art: Poetry of Alexander Prigov and Lev Rubinshtein 12. Post Modernism: Vladimir Sorokin 13. After the Fall: Russian Films of the 90s (“Brother,” “Of Freaks and Men,” “The Piano Tuner”) 14. The New Beginning: Films after 2000: (“4,” “The Road to Coctebel,” “How I Spent Last Summer”) 15. Conclusion