Department of Slavonic Studies
Paper Ru 6
Russian culture after 1880
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PAPER IS SUSPENDED IN 2013-14. IT WILL BE AVAILABLE AS AN OPTIONAL DISSERTATION TO PART II STUDENTS ONLY.
Please note that the content detailed below is for general reference only for Optional Dissertation work as an introduciton to this paper.
Note: Course handbook containing a detailed description and reading list for BOTH PART 1B AND PART II is not avaliable as this paper is suspended in 2013-14
The Paper
The years from 1880 to the present day have seen an extraordinary series of transformations in Russian history - avant-garde experimentation; the age of Revolution; the rise and gradual dismantling of Stalinist orthodoxies; the collapse of the Soviet Union' and the emergence of contemporary Russian culture on the world stage. Both aesthetically and politically, this period has been extraordinarily rich and varied.
This paper covers the full range of this ‘long’ twentieth century, from the early experiments of avant-garde writers and film-makers, through the feel-good ideological texts of Stalinist Socialist Realism, to recent post-Soviet attempts to come to terms with a complex and traumatic past. In the fraught political arena of Soviet Russia, literature and culture were formed in relation to state imperatives, which could be accepted or rejected, but which were difficult to ignore. The literary and visual texts that we study in this paper provide a wide range of responses to the particular contexts of twentieth and twenty-first-century Russia, and reveal the remarkable creativity that flourished, however paradoxically, in that world.
SET TEXT AND TOPICS
Please note that this paper will not be offered in 2013-14. Texts below were taught in 2012-13.
Section A: Set Text
Mikhail Bulgakov, Master i Margarita (1989 or later, as these later editions should mirror the edition prepared by Lidiia Ianovskaia for publication in Kiev, 1989, and Moscow, 1990)
Section B: Topics
1. Revolution
2. Violence
3. The City and Everyday Life
4. Modes of Resistance
5. Contested Identities
Please note: The reading list below treats each topic as a separate entity, with distinct primary and secondary sources, but as the course proceeds you will realize that readings you have studied in relationship to one topic may also be discussed in relationship to several others. You may find it possible to write about revolution, for example, in relation to readings set for the topics on violence or the city. Readings for the final two topics may also overlap in their formal and aesthetic concerns with each other and/or with the topics on the city or on violence. Thus, although you will only write on TWO of these six topics in the examination, you should find that your work on each of the five topics enhances your understanding of all the others. This structure also allows you to develop a solid grasp of the period as a whole, while developing your own approach to the topics you choose to prepare for the exam.
Preparatory Reading
This paper will not be running in 2013-14.
Teaching
This paper is taught through 16 lectures in Michaelmas and Lent terms, and four longer revision seminars in Easter Term. Full information can be found on the relevant Camtools site.
Assessment
The paper is divided into two sections, and all candidates must answer three questions. All candidates must answer one question from Section A on the set text, and two questions from Section B on the topics.
Individuals with Raven passwords may download copies of recent examination papers from the Faculty CamTools site. You may download a specimen paper here.
