Unit information: Soviet Cultural Politics 1917 - 1991 in 2010/11

Unit name	Soviet Cultural Politics 1917 - 1991
Unit code	RUSS30044
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Beumers
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Russian
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit explores the relationship between the creative intelligentsia and the Soviet state through a study of historical documents, memoirs, film and a small number of literary texts. It is chronologically structured, and examines political interference in the creative processes of writers and other artists with reference to the following topics: literary groups of the 1920s; Socialist Realism; the role of the Writers' Union; the Purges and literature; the Zhdanovshchina of the post-War years; the post-Stalinist Thaw; the Pasternak affair; the Solzhenitsyn affair, Siniavskii; Daniel and Brodskii; the dissident movement and the emigration; glasnost, perestroika and the end of Soviet culture.

Aims:

• To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.

• To facilitate students’ engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.

• To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.

• To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

• be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;

• will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;

• be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;

• be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;

• be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.

Teaching Information

Two seminar hours per week across one teaching block (22 contact hours).

Assessment Information

One of the following:

a) A written assignment of 3000 words and a two hour exam (50% each)

b) A written assignment of 3000 words (25%) and a three hour exam (75%)

c) One written assignment of 6000 words (or equivalent)

d) Two written assignments of 3000 words (50% each)

e) One oral presentation (25%) plus one written assignment of 1500 words (25%) plus one written assignment of 3000 words (50%)

Reading and References

Maksim Gorkii: Mother

Vsevolod Pudovkin: Mother

Sergei Eisenstein: Ivan the Terrible (Parts I and II)

Boris Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Vladimir Vysotskii: Songs

Tengiz Abuladze: Repentance