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Russian Thought in the Age of Catherine (RUSSM0001; unit director Professor Derek Offord)
This unit examines the development of Russian thought and culture in the period 1762-96, against the background of absolute rule and imperial expansion. It focuses on the perception of Western ideas and attitudes towards Westernisation, examination of the conception of virtuous government and the role of the nobility, debate about education and morals, and the emergence of an independent public opinion. These questions are studied through a broad range of belles-lettres, from drama (both tragedy and comedy) to short prose fiction, political discourse and the travelogue. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words.
Dostoevsky and Native-Soil Conservatism (RUSSM0002; unit director Professor Derek Offord)
This unit examines the relationship between Dostoevskii’s journalism, written in the period immediately after his return from Siberian exile, and his major fiction (especially Crime and Punishment, The Devils, and The Brothers Karamazov). It explores the way in which Dostoevskii’s fiction is informed by and itself shapes the vigorous ethical, social and political debates of Russia of the 1860s and 1870s. In particular a study is made of Dostoevskii’s contribution to debates on aesthetics, his perception of the differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, his response to the widespread contemporary loss of faith and to the growth of radical philosophical doctrines and political movements, and his reflection on crime, the condition of the family, social fragmentation and other social problems. eaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words.
Russian Revolutionary Populism, 1870-90 (RUSSM0003; unit director Professor Derek Offord)
The unit examines the revolutionary movement that arose out of the intellectual rebellion of the 1860s. This movement was predicated on the assumptions that the Russian people were innately socialistic, that there was an indigenous institution of a socialist nature on which a utopia could be built, and that Russia followed a historical path different from that of the West. A study is made of the theoretical bases of Populism and of the changes that were made to revolutionary tactics and strategy when ideals proved unrealisable in the face of social and political reality. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words.
War on Screen (RUSSM0010; unit director: Dr Birgit Beumers)
This unit introduces students to the treatment of World War II and of the recent wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya in Soviet and Russian film. Through a study of the films students will gain a different perspective on the wars than that presented in the mass media. They will learn to differentiate between official and unofficial viewpoints, and understand the East/West divide that is of paramount significance for Russian culture. Teaching is in small groups for two hours per week. The unit will be assessed by a 3000-word essay (75%) and a seminar presentation (25%).
Russian Prose Fiction of the Silver Age (RUSSM0011; unit director: Mr Michael Basker)
This unit explores the key works of Russian prose fiction of the 'modernist' period from the early 1890s to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Its main focus is the Symbolist novel, but attention will also be devoted to the development of kindred themes and techniques in shorter fictional forms. The unit evaluates the different approaches to the creation of multi-levelled, non-realist fictions that typify the intense cultural experimentation of the era, and identifies the recurrent social, psychological, religious and aesthetic preoccupations that unite its major exponents in their spiritual and intellectual quest for personal and national self-definition. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words. Knowledge of Russian is desirable but not essential for this unit.
Russian Philosophy of the Silver Age (RUSSM0012; unit director: Dr Ruth Coates)
This unit will explore a number of key themes in the thought of the Silver-Age period in Russia, from 1890 to 1921, namely: the ‘Russian Idea’; utopia and apocalypse; reason and faith; the feminine principle; sex, family and nation. It will seek to facilitate an understanding of the ways in which these concerns are peculiar to Russia (both in the period described and beyond), whilst also locating them more broadly within European modernism. Authors to be considered are: Vladimir Soloviev, Vasilii Rozanov, Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdiaev, Pavel Florensky, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words or two essays of 2,500 words each. Knowledge of Russian is desirable but not essential for this unit.
Bakhtin (RUSSM0013; unit director: Dr Ruth Coates)
This work explores the work of the twentieth-century Russian philosopher and critic Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (1895-1975). Attention will be paid to the development and transmutations of Bakhtinian concepts over time, as well as to the overall consistency in his philosophical outlook. The unit gives primary emphasis to Bakhtin's place in the Russian philosophical tradition and twentieth-century culture, but due reference will be made to simultaneous developments in critical theory in the West. Knowledge of Russian is not required for this unit. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words or two essays of 2,500 words each.
Russian Poetry of the Silver Age (RUSSM0014; unit director: Mr Michael Basker)
This unit explores the main trends in Russian poetry of the 'modernist' period, from the early 1890s to the immediate aftermath of the Revolutions of 1917. It examines the literary programmes of Symbolism, Acmeism and Futurism, and offers detailed analyses of key texts (individual poems and collections of verse) by major representatives of each movement. The contrasting literary strategies of the different groups are evaluated, and the unit aims to identify the personal, social-historical, religious and aesthetic preoccupations that they share and that reflect the nature of the Silver-Age culture to which they all belong. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words.
Introduction to Silver-Age Culture (unit director: Mr Michael Basker)
The unit identifies attitudes of mind and patterns of behaviour distinctive of Russian Silver-Age culture, and introduces several of the non-literary fields in which that culture found significant expression. It draws on memoirs and other documentary sources to explore such topics as ‘life as art’; the construction of biography; forms and fora of cultural exchange; the cult of the exotic and esoteric. It also provides an opportunity to consider the breadth of achievement and characteristic features of Russian culture of the period with reference to a number of the following topics: ballet (the Ballets Russes); music; the visual arts (art and architecture; Style Moderne); theatrical design; silent film; journal publication and the aesthetics of book design. Teaching is in weekly seminars and draws on expertise from across the Faculty of Arts. The precise combination of topics may vary slightly from year to year, in accordance with student interests and the availability of specialist staff from outside the Department of Russian Studies. The unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words.