This paper is available for the academic year 2024-25.
The Russian twentieth century was an age of transformations - of revolution, of the Soviet Union, and of its collapse. In cultural terms, it was extraordinarily rich and varied.
This paper covers the period from the first 鈥榬evolution鈥� in 1905, through 1917, to the death of Stalin in 1953. It travels from the poetry, film and theatre of the 鈥楽ilver Age鈥�, through the revolutionary experiments of avant-garde writers and film-makers, to the feel-good ideological texts of Stalinist Socialist Realism. 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 texts that we study in this paper provide a wide variety of responses to the particular contexts of early twentieth-century Russia, and reveal the remarkable creativity that flourished, perhaps paradoxically, in that world.
This paper offers the chance to tackle texts of different kinds (novels, poetry, drama, short stories), work with different media (written texts, film, visual and performing arts), and different modes of cultural enquiry (literary criticism and theory, intellectual and cultural history).
The paper is divided into two sections. Section A examines two set texts:听Isaac Babel鈥檚 cycle of Civil War stories Konarmiia (1926) and Mikhail Bulgakov鈥檚 novel Master i Margarita (1928-1940).听 Section B听offers four thematic topics. Each of these topics will require you to think across disciplinary boundaries, to make connections among texts produced in a range of media, and to explore both verbal and visual modes of cultural expression.听
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SECTION A
Set Texts
Isaac Babel鈥�,听Konarmiia听(1926)
Mikhail Bulgakov,听Master i Margarita听(various editions)
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SECTION B
Topics听
Topic 1: Crises of Representation
Please note that prior to every supervision you will have a discussion with your supervisor in which particular sources are recommended/selected.
Recommended primary sources:
Anton Chekhov, Diadia Vania; Vishnevyi sad.
Selected poetry by Aleksandr Blok, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandel'shtam (see below under 鈥楶reparatory Reading鈥�)
Aleksandr Blok, Balagan (play); Vsevolod Meierkho鈥檇, 鈥極 balagane鈥� (about the staging of that play)
Extracts from Blok, 鈥淜rushenie gumanizma鈥�; 鈥淥 naznachenii poeta鈥�
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Topic 2: Opportunities: Revolutions in Art and Society
Recommended primary sources:
Selected poetry by Velimir Khlebnikov (see below); Futurist manifestos: 鈥楶oshcheshchina obshchestvennomu vkusu鈥�; 鈥楽lovo kak takovoe鈥�. Optional: Vladimir Maiakovskii, 鈥榁ladimir Maiakovskii: Tragediia鈥�
Sergei Eisenstein, Stachka (1924); Visual art by Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin.
Maiakovskii, Misteriia-Buf (1B read only prologue).
Evgenii Zamiatin, 鈥淥 literature, revoliutsii i entropii鈥�.
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Topic 3: New Minds, New Bodies Recommended primary sources: Iurii Olesha,听Zavist鈥櫶�(novel, 1927) Mikhail Zoshchenko,听Rasskazy听(short stories from the 1920s: see especially: Grimas邪 NEPa, Bania, Krizis, Aristokratka). Aleksandra Kollontai,听Liubov鈥� pchel trudovykh听(novel, 1924) Boris Barnet,听Dom na Trubnoi听(film, 1927) Abram Room,听Tret鈥檌a Meshchanskaia听(film, 1929) 听
Topic 4: Stalin鈥檚 Subjects
Recommended primary sources:听 Abram Room,听Strogii iunosha听(film, 1936) Grigorii Aleksandrov,听Svetlyi put鈥櫶�(film, 1940) Aleksandr Medvedkin,听Novaia Moskva听(film, 1938) Ivan Py鈥檙ev,听Partiinyi bilet听(film, 1936) Andrei Platonov,听Dzhan听(novel, 1932) Dziga Vertov,听Tri pesni o Lenine听(film, 1934)
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Students who are planning to take SL14 are advised to read the following texts in preparation for the Michaelmas Term: Anton Chekhov, any (or all) of the four plays, especially听Diadia Vania;听Vishnevyi sad Poetry by Aleksandr Blok (including 'K Muze', 鈥楰ak tiazhelo khodit' sredi liudei鈥�, 鈥楿tikhaet svetlyi veter鈥�, 鈥楧olor ante lucem鈥�, 鈥榁 restorane鈥�); Anna Akhmatova (including 鈥榁echerom鈥�, 鈥楳ne ni k chemu odicheskie rati,鈥� 鈥楽zhala ri ruki pod temnoi vual'iu鈥�); Mandel'shtam (鈥榋vuk ostorozhnyi i glukhoi鈥�, 鈥楽ilentium鈥�) Isaak Babel鈥�,听Konarmiia Also Blok's play听Balagan You could also watch: films by Sergei Eisenstein (Stachka;听Bronenosets Potemkin) films by Abram Room (Tret鈥檌a Meshchanskaia;听Strogii iunosha) films by Boris Barnet (Dom na Trubnoi) If you have time, you can also read ahead towards the Lent term: (especially) Mikhail Bulgakov,听Master i Margarita Iurii Olesha,听Zavist鈥� Andrei Platonov,听Dzhan
FOR BACKGROUND, PLEASE LOOK AT
Balina, Marina and Evgenii Dobrenko, eds..听 澳门六合彩开奖记录 Companion to 20th- Century Russian Literature.听 CUP, 2011. 听This book contains many chapters that will be relevant to specific topics in this paper, and would be a useful text to refer to consistently throughout the year. 听Available from computers in the .cam.ac.uk domain
AND/OR Emerson, Caryl.听 澳门六合彩开奖记录 Introduction to Russian Literature.听 澳门六合彩开奖记录, 2008 [see especially Chapters 7-8].
Full reading list
Please see听SL14听Course Handbook听for details.
Teaching will consist of 16 lectures (8 in each of Michaelmas and Lent terms) and 4 2-hour seminars (in Easter Term). Students will have 10 supervisions. 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.
Candidates for Part IB:[1]听
A 5-hour timed online examination.
Answer three questions. You should answer NO MORE THAN TWO questions from Section A.. Answers in Section B must be comparative, and no more than ONE question may address only visual sources.听
For each answer you should write no more than 1,300 words.
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Candidates for Part II:听
The examination will consist of TWO parts:
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1) Lent term Coursework Essay
Answer ONE question from a list that will be released at the end of Lent term.
You should write no more than 1,800 words.
Essays will be due for submission at the start of the Easter term (the precise date and time to be announced in due course.)
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2) Easter Exam
A 3-hour timed online examination.
Answer ANY TWO questions. In considering your examination materials for SL14 as a whole (including coursework), please ensure that NO MORE THAN ONE essay treats only one text. All other essays must be comparative, and NO MORE THAN ONE can treat only visual sources.
For each answer write no more than 1,500 words.
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OR
Write a 3,000-word essay on ONE of the starred questions from either section A or section B. Your answer must treat more than one text.听
Candidates for this paper may not draw substantially on material from their dissertations or material which they have used or intend to use in another scheduled paper. Candidates may not draw substantially on the same material in more than one question on the same paper.
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Prof Emma Widdis |
