Class meets: MWF 10:50-11:50 in H 102.

• Since the 18th century to the current wars with Chechnia, contradictory views of Russian empire building have been reflected in Russian literature. We will begin by exploring some recurring ideas of empire that have been particularly popular in Russia--from ancient ideas of being a successor state to the Roman empire to more recent notions of succeeding Genghis Khan's empire, to views of a Russian - Soviet - Russian empire that continue to surface in Russian attitudes to Chechnia or Abkhazia.

• Our focus will be on one region: the Caucasus and the Crimea, Russia's "Oriental" south. We will look briefly at the history of the Russian empire's expansion into the region and then focus on how it is reflected in travelogues, Classicist and Romantic poetry, Oriental tales, short stories, novels, and even architecture. We will ponder general "orientalist" imagery and stereotyping (the noble savage, the brave tribesman, the free-spirited Cossack, the sensual woman, the imperial nobleman/peasant, the government functionary, and "virgin" territory) together with ideas of nation and identity based on this specific region.
  
• The course fulfills Macalester's Writing requirement and we take the writing process seriously (see separate page)

• We will read several classics of Russian literature (Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Bestuzhev-Marlinskii, Tsvetaeva), but also lesser known authors, some justly and others unjustly forgotten by the canon (Oznobishin, Elena Gan, Iakubovich, Rostopchina, Pristavkin).

• We will supplement our literary readings with a variety of critical and historical texts, as well as film screenings. Our readings, lectures, and discussions will be in English.

Lectures, discussions, and oral student reports of assigned texts. Readings will be listed on the Texts and Schedule linked to this page and you are expected to complete reading each text by the time it is scheduled for discussion. You will have the opportunity to show your analytical skills orally in classroom presentations (pair/individual? to be determined during first classes) and discussions where you comment on specific texts assigned in advance. You will perfect your writing skills in a research paper due by the end of the semester, after consultations, outlines, and drafts. This web page is the central informational venue for this class and you need to to keep up-to-date electronically. Our course will hopefully be a collegial dialogue, with us regularly and unpretentiously responding to the texts and to each other's ideas in our discussions and writings.

Texts

Schedule

Grading policies

Papers

Resources

Exams

This page was last updated on 8/25-07