30040 - Russian Literature 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

Acquiring deeper knowledge of modern and contemporary Russian literature. Developing  critical approaches to the literary text.

Course contents

Female characters in 19th and 20th century Russian Literature

The aim of the course is presenting a gallery of female characters in 19th and 20th century Russian literature. The role of woman in Russian society and its representation in Russian literature will be discussed against the background of social and political events of Russian history. There will be also some comparisons between the attitudes of male writers and female writers as to the presentation of female characters. Lessons will be held in Italian and Russian.

Lessons are open to GEMMA students, in case they do not know Russian, lessons will be held in English or Italian.

Readings/Bibliography

Provisional list of the literary works to be analyzed (it is advisable to read as many texts as possible /in any language and edition/ in order to be able to follow the lectures):

Dostoevskij : Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Meek One; The Housewife; Notes from the Underground

Turgenev – First Love; Fathers and Sons; etc.

Tolstoj: Family Happiness; Anna Karenina, Resurrection

Cechov: a choice of stories and pièces

Gor'kij: The mother

Zamjatin: We

Platonov: Fro

 Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago

-Bulgakov: Maestro e Margherita

Solzhenicyn: Matriona's house

texts by a selection of contemporary Russian women writers: Tolstaja, Palej, Tokareva, Ulickaja, Petrusevskaja etc.

Further critical and theoretical readings (to be prepared according to the Teacher's instructions)

Andrew, Joe, Narrative and desire in Russian literature, 1822-49: the feminine and the masculine, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1993

Andrew, Joe, Women in Russian Literature, 1780-1863, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988

Barker, A.M. and J. M. Gheith eds,  A History of Women's Writing in Russia , Cambridge, CUP, 2002

Benson, Ruth Crego, Women in Tolstoy: the Ideal and the Erotic, Urbana [etc.]; London: University of Illinois Press, 1973

Clyman, Toby W. & Greene, Diana eds,  Women writers in Russian literature, Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1994

Costlow, J.T., Sexuality and the body in Russian culture, edited by Jane T. Costlow, Stephanie Sandler, Judith Vowles: Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1993

Edmondson, Linda Harriet, Women and society in Russia and the Soviet Union, edited by Linda Edmondson, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992

Gasiorowska, Xenia, Women in Soviet fiction. 1917-1967, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1968

Gray, Francine Du Plessis, The Russian Heroine: Gender, Sexuality and Freedom, “Michigan Quarterly Review”, 1989, vol. 28, n. 4, pp. 699-718

Heldt, Barbara, Terrible perfection: women and Russian literature, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1987

Kelly, Catriona,  A History of Russian Women's Writing 1820-1992, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994.

Kelly, Catriona (ed.),  An Anthology of Russian Women's Writing 1820-1992, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994.

Lejderman N.L. & Lipoveckij M.N.,  Sovremennaja russkaja literatura 1950-1990-e gody,

Maegd-Soëp, Carolina de: Chekhov and women: Columbus, Ohio: Slavica, c1987

Mandelker, Amy: Framing Anna Karenina: Tolstoy, the woman question, and the Victorian novel, Series:The Theory and interpretation of narrative series:Columbus: Ohio State University Press, c1993

Pacini, L., La tragedia nella camera da letto. Il dramma coniugale di Sonja e Lev Tolstoj,  Roma, edizioni e/o, 1985.

Porter, C., Donne in rivolta nella Russia zarista, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1977

Siegel, G.,  The Fallen Woman in 19th Century Russian Literature, “Harvard Slavic Studies”, vol. V, 1970

Spendel, J., Il silenzio delle albe, Torino, Tirrenia stampatori, 1993

Stellman, J., Raskol'nikov and his Women, “Russian Literature”, 54:1, 2003, pp. 279-96

Stites, Richard: The women's liberation movement in Russia: feminism, nihilism and bolshevism, 1860-1930, Princeton; Guildford: Princeton University Press, 1978

Tanner, Tony, L'adulterio nel romanzo: contratto e trasgressione, Genova: Marietti, 1990

White, Nicholas and Segal, Naomi. Scarlet letters: fictions of adultery from antiquity to the 1990s  - London; New York: Macmillan press, c1997

Teaching methods

Lectures, reading and analysis of texts, slides, film clips and viewing relevant internet sites, seminars and reports by the students.

Assessment methods

During the course students will be encouraged to participate with brief reports on certain topics. Their active participation will be considered integral part of their final test if they take the exam within the two following terms.

Students will be required to write an essay (possibly in Russian) on a topic connected with the course to be discussed during the exam. 

The test consists in an oral interview (held also in Russian) which has the aim of evaluating the students' knowledge of the contents of the programme and their critical and methodological abilities in discussing the topics and texts presented during the course. The student must demonstrate appropriate knowledge of  the contents and the bibliography of the course programme.

Those students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the lessons, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence.
Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a ‘fair' mark.
A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark.
Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the programme bibliography will not be given a pass mark.Students will be required to to write an essay (possibly in Russian) on a topic connected with the course to be discussed during the exam. 

NB. GEMMA and Erasmus students are required to write an essay in English or Italian on a topic to be agreed with the Professor.

 

Teaching tools

Lectures, showing audio-visual materials, surfing the internet for relevant sites, analysis of literary texts. Presentations and papers of the students on topics suggested by the Professor.

Office hours

See the website of Gabriella Elina Imposti