Tolstoy
RUSS 252
Fall 2021 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
REES 252, COL 262, RULE 252, WLIT 252 |
During the 19th century when Tolstoy wrote his novels and stories, literature was viewed in Russia as the intelligentsia's primary medium for debating its big questions (such as how to resolve the inequalities that had been institutionalized under serfdom, or how to choose between new and old values as Russia experienced modernization). Writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky willingly assumed the responsibility to address a broad range of political, historical, and philosophical-religious questions in their fiction, and they wrote novels with radical formulations as well as solutions to these questions. However, they also viewed literature, particularly the novel, as a medium with rich potential for innovative formal experimentation, and so they resisted the call for conventional ideological novels. Each of Tolstoy's best works is an innovative formal experiment that creates an unprecedented, new type of novel. This course will study how Tolstoy's writings both responded to and transcended their times by creating new novelistic forms and new truths within those forms.
For native speakers and learners who have studied Russian for at least four semesters, a half-credit course is available in which we will read excerpts from Tolstoy's works (CGST 330). |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA REES |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (REES-MN)(REES-Lang/Lit/C) |
Major Readings:
Tolstoy, CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH, trans. Rosengrant (Penguin): ISBN 978-0-140-44992-1
Tolstoy , TOLSTOY'S SHORT FICTION (Norton), ed. Katz: ISBN 978-0-393-93150-1
Tolstoy, WAR AND PEACE (Oxford), trans. Maude/Mandelker: ISBN 10: 0199232768
13: 978-0199232765
Tolstoy , ANNA KARENINA (Norton), trans. Maude/Gibian: ISBN 0-393-96642-9
Anthony Briggs, LEO TOLSTOY, Hesperus Press Limited, ISBN 9781843919117
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Examinations and Assignments:
Three 5-page papers. Frequent ungraded short response papers. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Synchronous Zoom sessions at class time. Attendance at Zoom sessions, or viewing recordings later if time zone makes it impossible to attend at class time, will be required. Moodle will be used intensively. Individual in-person meetings may be arranged if circumstances permit. |
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