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RUSS 251: 19th-Century Russian Literature in Translation

VI. SCHEDULE of Classes, SPRING 2008
MWF 10:50-11:50 in H 212

(This is tentative and may be adjusted as we move along: it is your responsibility to keep up-to-date).
Ideally you should have finished reading each work when we are scheduled to begin our discussion of that work. Keep in mind that Crime and Punishment is especially long. It is a good idea to start reading this novel much before it is scheduled. Read the work carefully, take notes as you read, mark interesting passages, jot down questions you have and anything that strikes you as important, interesting, good, bad, ridiculous, controversial, or otherwise worthy of discussion. These kinds of notes and jottings will help you in classroom discussions (and in your papers!).

CODE
E-RES= electronic reserve in the library
RES= hard copy reserve in the library

Reading assignments should be completed by the date for which they are first scheduled.

Mon 1/28
Introductions, discussion of syllabus & projects.
Start background lecture: Old Russian Literature
Study your syllabus, get your books, start thinking about written projects!

Wed 1/30
Lecture: literary background Old Russian literature; the Baroque

Fri 2/1
Lecture / discussion: The 18th century: Neoclassicism & Sentimentalism. Narrativity and dialogue.
READ:
* Karamzin, "Poor Liza" (Proffer anthology)
* Hammarberg article: "Poor Liza, Poor Erast, Lucky Narrator"(E-RES) Skim it--don't let the Russian quotes and words bother you--the idea is to get the gist of it.

Mon 2/4

Bibliographical instruction in the library with Ellen Holt-Werle . Meet at the library on second floor: Bibliographic Instruction Room, at our usual class time. This session is tailor-made for Russian literature and will tell you about the tools of the trade. All of you should attend.

Wed 2/6
Discussion: Karamzin & "Poor Liza"--conclusions

Feb 7- March 1: Chekhov festival at Bryant-Lake Bowl Check out the site for full details--I've listed only parts of it here!

Because of this opportunity we will scramble our course chronology and indulge in Neorealism, Chekhov and the turn of the 19th-20th century and attend as many of the festival events we possibly can as a group and/or independently.

Thurs Feb 7:
7 pm: A Rain of Seagulls and Our Vanya Ourselves
10pm: tres bitches or i wanna go to Moscow

Fri 2/8
Lecture / discussion: Chekhov and Neo-Realism: drama.
READ:
*Chekhov: The Seagull (E-RES, RES The Plays of Anton Chekhov; PG3436A19S36 1997)

Sat Feb 9 or Mon Feb 11at 7 pm or Sun Feb 24 at 3 pm
The Seagull--We'll make one expedition on Feb 24--I've ordered tickets for all!

Mon 2/11
Discussion: Chekhov & The Seagull

Wed 2/13
Discussion: Chekhov & The Seagull

Fri 2/15
Lecture / discussion: Romanticism: Poetry The Byronic poem I: Lermontov's "The Demon"
READ:
* Romanticism (Handbook, pp.372-6 RES)
* Rom/Realism contrasts
* Lermontov (Handbook, pp.248-50 RES)
* Lermontov: "The Demon" (E-RES, RES, Lermontov, Major Poetical Works, pp.354-415; PG3337L4A253 1983--Engl. only--unless, of course you know Russian!)
DUE: Your decision: Project I or II??

Mon 2/11
Discussion: "The Demon"--conclusions

Mon 2/18
Lecture / discussion: The Byronic poem II: Pushkin: Eugene Onegin. Versification and translation.

READ:
* Pushkin (Handbook, pp.356-60 RES)
* Pushkin: Eugene Onegin

READ, ORAL REPORT #1(Kaia Arthur and Margaret Besser): "Translator's Preface" to Pushkin, A.S. Eugene Onegin, tr. by Douglas Hofstadter, pp. ix-xli. RES, E-RES

VIEW IF YOU WANT:
*A short biographical background for Pushkin (Filmfair Communications MAC: MEDIA SERV. PG3350.A449 1991 videotape) will be available in the Media Services (4th floor Humanities) for your viewing during their opening hours
*"Eugene Onegin" 1958 Soviet Bol'shoi teatr operatic (Tchaikovsky) version, directed by Roman Tikhomirov with V. Medvedev playing Eugene, A Shengelaia playing Tat'iana (songs sung by Galina Vishnevskaia), I Ozerov playing Lensky and S Nemoliaeva playing Ol'ga. 106 min., color. Mac media Services ML50.C435C537 1984. You can view it in the Media Services.

Pictures of Imperial Petersburg

Wed 2/20
Discussion: Eugene Onegin, continued
DUE: Project #I.1 ("Demon")

Time TBA at my house
Dinner & Film screening: the 1998 English language "Onegin," (dir. Martha Fiennes) with Ralph Fiennes as Onegin and Liv Tyler as Tat'iana. 106 minutes, color. Mac: PG3347.E815 2000 Videotape. After our screening: available in Media Services

Fri 2/22
Discussion: Eugene Onegin, conclusions
Project II: Topic decision.
Good time to start reading: Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time

Mon 2/25
Lecture / discussion: Romanticism: Prose: From novel in verse to prose novel: novelistic structure.
READ:
* Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time

Lermontov, "Taman"

Wed 2/27
Discussion: A Hero of Our Time, continued

Fri 2/29
Discussion: A Hero of Our Time; Imperialism and literature, conclusions
READ, ORAL REPORT #2 (Rachel Boyle and Angela Horner):
* P. Scotto article: "Prisoners of the Caucasus: Ideologies of Imperialism. . ."(E-RES)

Mon 3/3
Lecture / discussion: Pushkin's prose
READ:
* Pushkin: "The Queen of Spades" (Proffer anthology)
DUE: Project I.2

Pushkin's Petersburg

Wed 3/5
Discussion: Pushkin: "The Queen of Spades," conclusions
Film screening: Chardynin's 1910 silent black and white version (ca. 15 mins) (Mac: MEDIA SERV. PN 1995.75 C437 1992). Available atferwards in Media Services.

VIEW IF YOU WANT (media Services):
* Operatic version: Tchaikovsky's version on video will be placed on reserve in the Media Serv. This is the 1992 Glyndebourne Festival opera production, featuring three top Russian singers: Yurii Marusin sings Hermann, Sergei Leiferkus sings Tomskii, and Dmitrii Kharitonov sings Eletskii (whose role here is expanded). Nancy Gustafson sings Lisa and Felicity Palmer sings the Countess. Quite different view of Pushkin than Chardynin's! (color, 171 mins) (Mac: MEDIA SERVICES ML 50.C435 Q446 1992)
*The 2007 Metropolitan Opera version (with Reneé Fleming and Dmitrii Khvorostovskii) is also out and we will try to schedule a joint screening)

Fri 3/7
Lecture / discussion: The Natural School & Gogol;
READ:
* Natural School (Handbook, pp.293-95 RES)
* Gogol (Handbook, pp.174-77 RES)

Gogol's Petersburg

Mon 3/10
Discussion: Gogol "The Nose"
READ:
* Gogol': "The Nose" (E-RES, RES Gogol' Tales of Good...PG3333.A1 5 1957)

Wed 3/12
Discussion: "The Nose," conclusions

Fri 3/14
MIDTERM EXAM (covers everything through "The Nose")

Mon 3/24
Discussion: Gogol': "The Overcoat"
READ:
* Gogol': "The Overcoat" (Proffer anthology)

Evening film screening: Soviet version of "The Overcoat"--with the great Rolan Bykov as Akakii Akakievich--to be jointly decided The film runs 73 mins--count on follow-up discussion The film will be placed in Media Services afterwards so you can screen it a second time individually.

Wed 3/25
Discussion: Gogol': "The Overcoat" & critical approaches to it: Russian Formalism
READ, ORAL REPORT #3 (Morgen Chang and Keri Piepgras and Lilia Pachenko):
* Eikhenbaum, Boris, "How Gogol's 'Overcoat' is Made" (E-RES, RES, Trahan, E. Gogol's Overcoat PG3332.S53G6)

Fri 2/28
Lecture / discussion: Realism: Turgenev

READ:
* Realism (Handbook, pp.363-67 RES)
* Turgenev(Handbook, pp.488-89 RES)
* Turgenev: Fathers and Sons

Mon 3/31
Discussion: Fathers and Sons--continuation

Wed 4/2
Discussion: Fathers and Sons, conclusions & reactions by contemporaries
READ:
Dmitry I. Pisarev, "Bazarov," in Fathers and Sons, pp.185-206

Fri 4/4
Lecture / discussion: Dostoevsky, background. The Philosophy in Part I of Notes from Underground (and Chernyshevsky & Utilitarian, determinist philosophies)
READ:
* Dostoevsky (Handbook, pp.102-8 RES)
* Dostoevsky: Notes From Underground, Part I
READ IF YOU WANT:
* N. G. Chernyshevsky: "From What's to be Done?" in Dostoevsky, Notes, pp.99-117.

Dostoevsky's Petersburg

Mon 4/7
Discussion: Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, the philosophy of Part I applied?
READ:
* Dostoesky: Notes From Underground, Part II
* Nekrasov poem

Wed 4/9
Discussion 1: Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground conclusions. The dialogic form; the possibility of totally honest confession.
READ, ORAL REPORT # 5 (Jeffrey Rivera and Shannon Thorson):
* Mikhail Bakhtin, "Discourse in Dostoevsky," in appendix to Notes from Underground, pp. 146-156

Discussion 2: Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment 1-2.
Themes:
Dostoevsky's general approach to Realism
Raskolnikov's divided personality
& his family (metonymic description)
Murder & Space
Murder & Time
Murder & Action
READ:
* Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Parts 1 and 2
DUE: Project I.3 (Gadget/machine/apparel or your "Notes")

Fri 4/11
Discussion: Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Themes:
Composition
Characters & composition
Raskolnikov's doubles emerge
3 plot lines emerge:
Raskolnikov family plot
Marmeladov family plot
Porfiry & Murder plot
READ:
* Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Parts 3 and 4

Mon 4/14
Discussion: Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Themes:
The genre of the whole & the three plots?
Gothic novel
Poor clerk natural school story
Adventure novel/detective story
Raskolnikov's motivations for the crime and 60s ideas
Raskolnikov's doubles and dreams
READ:
* Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Parts 5, 6 + Epilogue

Wed 4/16
Discussion: Dostoevsky & Crime and Punishment, Christianity/Marxism

READ, ORAL REPOPT #6 (Peter Wright and Morgen Chang)
Moravia, Alberto, "The Marx-Dostoevsky Duel" in Crime and Punishment, pp. 619-22
Pereverzev, V., ["A Marxist Summing-up of Dostoevsky"] in Crime and Punishment, pp. 623-24
USSR Ministry of Culture on Dostoevsky at Russian Universities in 1953,1955, 1984, in Crime and Punishment, pp.624-28

Fri 4/18
Discussion: Dostoevsky & Crime and Punishment, conclusions
READ if you want: Michael Holquist, "Puzzle and Mystery, the Narrative Poles of Knowing: Crime and Punishment" in Crime and Punishment, pp. 565-70
Project II: Outline & bibliography due

Evening screening (if time allows!)at my house (+available afterwards in Media Services):
Crime and Punishment. French (Pierre Chenal) version, 1935, black & white, 110 min.
This is one of the masterpieces of Pierre Chenal, (1935, black & white, 110 minutes) with Pierre Blanchard as Raskolnikov and Harry Baur as the detective, Porfiry--both superb performances. French with English subtitles Mac: PG 3326.P74714 1989 videotape

with clips from:

Lev Kulidzhanov, Crime and Punishment, Russian version (1970, 224 mins black & white, starting at 6pm) the print is bad: no sound, illegible subtitles skinny rectangle on square screen. . . Still this is the version I'd recommend as the closest to Dostoevsky's original and with great acting by Georgi Taratorkin as Raskolnikov and (esp.!) Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Porfiry. Russian with (illegible) English subtitles. Mac: PG3326.P747 1989 videotape, pt. 1-2

Josef von Sternberg, Crime and Punishment (Columbia Pictures, 1935, 88 min). This version takes us far afield from Dostoevsky, from Rodion Romanovich to Roderick, from Svidrigailov to "Grilov," from the axe to a poker as the murder weapon, etc. etc.--amusing in its own way, but NOT Dostoevsky. Memorable mostly for Peter Lorre's vivid over-acted terrific Raskolnikov (both in his coolest and his maddest aspects) and Edward Arnold as the memorable detective. This one is in English. Mac: PG3326.P74713 1993

The recent Bravo/Gala Film version, directed by Julian Jarrold, produced by David Snodin, starring: John Simm, Iam McDiarmid, Shaun Dingwall, etc. etc.(4 hours taped with commercials, alas)

Mon 4/21
Presentation & discussion: 19th-century Russian women writers: careers and genres.
READ & PRESENT:
Everybody should read all four women's texts listed below but focus on one specific woman. We'll divide up the class into pairs, each of which will read and present to the rest of us one of the following women authors. Each pair has about 30 minutes to present and lead the discussion of one writer. Focus your presentation on both the writer's biography from a gender point of view as well as her writing and its genre. All the texts are in Russian Women Writers, ed. Christine Tomei, Vol. I, New York, Garland Publishing. NOTE: This book is in the Reference section of the library:PG3203.W64R868 1999 v. 1, the individual sections on E-RES

* Nadezhda Durova, biography and excerpts from The Cavalry Maiden, pp.61-70 (Kaia and Rachel)
* Maria Zhukova, biography and excerpt from "My Acquaintances from Kursk," pp.183-98 (Margaret and Angela)

Wed 4/23
Discussion: Women writers, continued (texts located as above):
* Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaia, biography and "After the Flood," pp.261-83 (Morgen and Shannon)
*Lidiia Zinov'eva-Annibal, biography and "The Head of the Medusa," pp.443-57 (Jeffrey and Lilia)

Mon 4/28
*Evgeniia Tur, biography and selections from "Crimean Letters," pp.349-69 (Peter and Keri)
Lecture: Realism, the novel, & Tolstoy.
READ:
* Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Ideally you should have finished the novel by now--otherwise the plot might be revealed before you know how it ends. . . An in-depth analysis of the novel is impossible in a survey class and we will focus on a few aspects of it. Think about the following as you read:
**Gender questions (Tolstoy's ideas about women, women in 19th-century Russia, representations of women in literature
** Social hierarchies
**Moral hierarchies
** Dual plot structure and parallel characters
**The metonymic principle
**Animal symbolism
** Railroad symbolism

* Tolstoy (Handbook, pp.476-80 RES)
DUE: Project II drafts--final deadline for feedback

Wed 4/30
Discussion: Anna Karenina
READ:
* Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Fri 5/2
Lecture: Tolstoy, women, and Anna Karenina
DUE: Project I.4 (movie review)

Mon 5/5
Discussion: Anna Karenina: Conclusions
DUE: Project II: final version

AS TIME ALLOWS: Film screening/discussion of Anna Karenina--Mac owns 4 versions (available as usual in Media Services after screening):
• US; Dir. Clarence Brown, prod. David Selznick; Based on Eugene O’Neill play with Greta Garbo, Fredric March Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O’Sullivan. B&W 1930, 96 min. PG3366.A663 1990
• US; Alexander Korda production with Vivien Leigh, Kieron Moore, Ralph Richardson, Sally Ann Howes, Hugh Dempster; B&W, 1948, 111 min. PG3366.A663 1994 videotape
• US, Dir. Simon Langton, with Jacqueline Bisset, Christopher Reeve, & Paul Scofield, color, 96 min., 1985 film. PG3366.A645 1990 vidseotape
• USSR, Mosfilm, 1988. Photography: Kalashnikov; dir.: Aleksandra Zarkhi; actors: Tatiana Samoilova, Nikolai Gritzenko, Vasilii Lanovoi. Video 1997, color, 103 min PG3366.L488 1997

Wed 5/7
STUDY DAY

Sat 5/10
FINAL EXAM 10:30-12:30 in our usual room
Covers material we've read/discussed after Midterm only.

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Last updated 4/28, 2008