Listed in: Russian, as RUSS-217
Formerly listed as: FYSE-13 | FYSE-22 | RUSS-17
Stanley J. Rabinowitz (Section 01)
A course that examines the stories and novels of rebels, deviants, dissidents, loners, and losers in some of the weirdest fictions in Russian literature. The writers, most of whom imagine themselves to be every bit as bizarre as their heroes, include from the nineteenth century: Gogol (“Viy,” “Diary of a Madman,” “Ivan Shponka and His Aunt,” “The Nose,” “The Overcoat”); Dostoevsky (“The Double,” “A Gentle Creature,” “Bobok,” “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”); Tolstoy (“The Kreutzer Sonata,” “Father Sergius”), and from the twentieth century: Olesha (Envy); Platonov (The Foundation Pit); Kharms’ (Stories); Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita); Nabokov (The Eye, Despair); Erofeev (Moscow Circles); Pelevin (“The Yellow Arrow”). Our goal will be less to construct a canon of strangeness than to consider closely how estranged women, men, animals, and objects become the center of narrative attention and, in doing so, reflect the writer Tatyana Tolstaya’s claim that “Russia is broader and more diverse, stranger and more contradictory than any idea of it. It resists all theories about what makes it tick, confounds all the paths to its possible transformation.” All readings in English translation.
Not open to first-year students. Limited to 35 students. Fall semester. Professor Rabinowitz.
If Overenrolled: Majors receive preference, remainder decided by lottery
Cost: $9.00 ?
Section 01
Tu 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM WEBS 220
Th 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM WEBS 220
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diary of a Madman | Gogol | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Eye | Nabokov | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Foundation Pit | Platonov | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Master & Margarita | Bulgakov | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Notes from Underground | Dostoevsky | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Portable 20th c. Russian Reader | Brown | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Yellow Arrow | Pelevin | Amherst Books | TBD | |||
| Despair | Nabokov | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.