Russian and American Poetic Encounters
REES 222
Spring 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
RULE 222, RUSS 222, ENGL 238, WLIT 267 |
The fascination of Russian poets with American authors, and the curiosity of Anglophone poets about the culture of Russia and the USSR, are trends that accompany the turbulent twentieth century, when the political relationships between Russia and the USA were largely inimical. But it was also a period when poetry mattered. In this course, we will focus on some of the most significant poets of the twentieth century.
We will study six Russian poets (Vladimir Mayakovsky, Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelstam, Joseph Brodsky, Olga Sedakova, and Arkadii Dragomoshchenko), and six American poets (William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, John Ashbery, and Lyn Hejinian), and also one Caribbean poet (Derek Walcott).
We will learn how to analyze lyric poetry, and how to study it comparatively. We will explore the poets' dialogues with each other across cultures. For example, we will learn how Mayakovsky's "ladder" might have influenced Williams' vers libre, or how Joseph Brodsky learned T. S. Eliot's theory of impersonality in poetry even though Eliot was banned in the USSR. We will also explore where poetry and politics meet. For example, we will discuss why Langston Hughes found his visit to the USSR inspirational as an African-American poet, and we will see whether the myth that Robert Frost's visit to the USSR contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis is true.
The course is taught in English. No knowledge of Russian is required. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA REES |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ENGL)(ENGL-Creative W)(REES-Lang/Lit/C) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Selected poems and essays by Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, John Ashbery, William Carlos Williams, Derek Walcott, Joseph Brodsky, Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelstam, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Arkadii Dragomoshchenko
(posted on Moodle)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Reading responses, one presentation, three short writing assignments (3pp), a midterm and a final exam. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Students with an advanced level of Russian are encouraged to take RUSS350 course in addition, in order to discuss the Russian poets from the course in the original.
The course fulfills the following English major requirements:
Elective |
| Instructor(s): Karageorgos,Natasha Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: FISK305; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 20 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 5 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 5 | FR: 5 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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