RUSS 267 - Love and Death in Twentieth-Century Russian Short Story

This course examines the art of the short story through the lens of two fundamental existential themes: love and death. We will read works of short fiction by twentieth century Russian and Russophone writers such as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bunin, Gorky, Babel, Zamiatin, Platonov, Nabokov, Shalamov, Ginzburg, Iskander, Aitmatov, Tolstaya, Petrushevskaya, Pelevin, and others. In this course, students will investigate the genre of short story and its specific poetics, learn about Russian and Russophone literary traditions, and develop critical skills necessary for analyzing works of literary fiction. The workload includes extensive reading, class presentations, and regular writing of critical essays. All readings and discussions are in English. An additional weekly session will be scheduled for students taking the course for Russian credit.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): For Russian credit: RUSS 220 or equivalent.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 267
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).