Department of Slavonic Studies

Paper Ru 5

Russian Culture from the Golden Age to the Silver Age

Course Advisers for 2013-2014:  Dr Susan Larsen

N.B. This page only introduces you to the paper.

 

The Paper

This course examines the development of Russian literature from roughly 1800 to roughly 1914, but it will concentrate on the chronological middle of this period in close analyses of key texts by Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky,  Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov and a few less canonical others.  The course is intended to introduce students to a wide range of authors, genres and issues, and--through its focus on two set texts and four topics—to allow students to explore several of these in depth.   Lectures and supervision will address not only formal and theoretical  questions (i.e. narrative voice, versification, dramatic structure, literary culture), but also the urgent social, political and theological questions at the core of these extraordinary texts and the cultural debates that shaped them. Students are expected to investigate relevant critical, historical, and theoretical contexts for both set texts and topics by reading widely in the recommended secondary literature. Primary sources should be read and cited in Russian. Secondary reading may be done in English.

Texts and Topics

A. Set texts in 2013/2014:

1.  Pushkin, Evgenii Onegin  (Michaelmas)

• Students in Part IB, Option B and Part II read the entire novel in Russian.
• Students in Part IB, Option A read at least chapters 1, 2, 5 and 8 in Russian; they read the entire novel in English in order to follow the plot. 

Recommended edition:  Alxaner Pushkin, Eugene Onegin.  Bristol Classical Press (or any other accented and annotated edition of the Russian text).

2.  Тolstoi, Anna Karenina  (Lent)

• Students in Part IB, Option B and Part II read the entire novel in Russian.
• Students in Part IB, Option A read at least the extracts specified below in Russian; they read the entire novel in English in order to follow the plot. 
  • part 1:              Chapters  1-4, 7-11, 13, 16-23, 26-34 
  • part 2:              Chapters  7-12, 21-29                                               
  • part 3:              Chapters  1-5,  13-16,  22- 25, 31-32                          
  • part 4:              Chapters  1, 3-5,  9-13, 15-23                       
  • part 5:              Chapters  3, 7-16,  19-20, 31-33           
  • part 7:              Chapters  9-16, 23-31                                                 
  • part 8:              Chapters  8-19

All students are advised to read the set texts in Russian during the long vacation.  Preliminary study questions for each text are available from the paper convenor and posted on the course CamTools page (Students who indicate in their preliminary paper choices that they plan to take Ru5 in 2013/2014 will be enrolled in the CamTools site in July). 

B.  Topics in 2013/2014
Topics for 2013/2014 are still under discussion and will be finalized in early July 2013.  They will differ in some respects from topics offered in previous years, but they will include discussion of short works by Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Chekhov, with others still to be confirmed.  Topics will be structured to allow students to study texts in a variety of genres––verse, drama and essay, as well as fiction––and to explore a wide range of cultural, historical and literary developments.  Readings for each topic will include both shorter texts that are more appropriate for students in Part IB, Option A, as well as longer or more linguistically challenging texts that are better suited for students in Part IB, Option B or Part II.

Preparatory Reading

Details will be made available for this paper in 2013-14 in July 2013.

Teaching

Weekly lectures in Michaelmas and Lent;  weekly revision seminars in Easter.  Fortnightly supervisions will be arranged centally through the department. The lectures are designed to provide a general background for the course, and it is therefore intended that all lectures will be useful to all students, regardless of the topics upon which they choose to focus in their preparation for the exam.

Assessment

The examination is divided into two sections. Section A will consist of a commentary on one of the set texts and essay questions on each of the others.  Section B will offer questions on selected topics.  All questions  in Section B will require you to write about two or more texts by two or more authors.  It will be possible to answer some questions in Section B with reference to the set texts about which the candidate  has NOT written in Section A.   All candidates must answer three questions.  Candidates in Part IB must answer one question from Section A, one question from Section B and one other question. Candidates in part II must answer one question from section A and two from section B.

Individuals with Raven passwords may download copies of recent examination papers from the Faculty CamTools site here.

Course Contact

Dr Susan Larsen (sl545)