Unit name | Anticipating the End: Russian Thought in the Shadow of Revolution (1890-1917) |
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Unit code | RUSS30059 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Coates |
Open unit status | Open |
Pre-requisites |
N/A |
Co-requisites |
N/A |
School/department | Department of Russian |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will explore and analyse developments in Russian thought from about 1890 to the October Revolution of 1917, a period commonly referred to as the Silver Age. Despite the continuing and increasing impact of socialist and materialist ideologies, notably Marxism, on Russian politics and culture in the decades preceding the Revolution, the Silver Age is defined rather by a parallel resurgence of interest in metaphysics, and a range of religious/spiritual responses to the uncertainties of the age: it is the philosophical expression of these which will form the basis of the course. The course is constructed around the notion of the anticipation of the end, a feature of early modernism that received particular attention in Russia due to its unique political situation in the years preceding the Bolshevik Revolution. The material, to consist largely of primary texts, will be delivered under four sub-themes: ‘living with uncertainty’, ‘love and death: routes to immortality’, ‘constructing the past, predicting the future’, and ‘apocalypse: articulating the end’. Thinkers to be covered include Vladimir Solov’ev, Dmitrii Merezhkovskii, Vasilii Rozanov, Lev Shestov, Pavel Florenskii, and Sergei Bulgakov.
Students will have become acquainted with key thinkers of the late imperial period. They will have an understanding of the social and cultural changes that gave rise to early modernism and of the latter’s central features. They will know what was distinctive about Russian early modernism and the reasons for its distinctiveness. They will be able to identify the key themes of Russian thought of the period and show how these are expressed in a range of texts. They will gain an insight into the relationship between religion, philosophy, the arts, and politics in late imperial Russia. They will be able to place the Russian Revolution of 1917 into a broader cultural context.
Lecture-seminar format, with students to give one, non-assessed presentation of between 20 and 30 minutes during the course.
An essay of 3000 words (60%) A 2-hour exam (40%)
Each assessment will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of modernist literature and history. They will be required to analyse closely a selection of the primary material studied and locate this material in its relevant historical and cultural context..