Syllabus
SYLLABUS
September 4 – Introduction to course, Prince Vladimir chooses Christianity, from the Primary Chronicle
September 6 – Ahmad ibn Fadlān on the Rus' (this book is optional for our course; text also on Moodle)
September 11 – “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign,” translated by Vladimir Nabokov
September 13 – Tales of battle, Zenkovsky pp. 193-207; opening scenes from Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky
First paper, rough draft due
September 18 – “The Battle Beyond the Don;” Afanasii Nikitin’s “Journey Across Three Seas” (Zenkovsky, pp. 333-353);
September 20 – Lomonosov, “Ode on the Taking of Khotin'”; Pushkin, “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai”
September 25 – Pushkin, “Captive of the Caucasus;” “Eastern” poems
September 27 – Bestuzhev-Marlinskii, “Ammalat-Bek” (excerpts)
First paper, final draft due
October 2 – Lermontov, “Bela” from Hero of Our Time; “Ashik-Kerib”
October 4 – Tolstoy, “A Prisoner in the Caucasus”
October 9 – Tolstoy, Hadji Murad
October 11 – Self-orientalizing poems; other poetic treatments of Muslim characters by Russian women
Second paper, rough draft due
Fall Break!
October 23 - Yuri Tynyanov, The Death of the Vazir-Mukhar (excerpts): read to p. 70 (end of section 5), or to p. 341 of the novel.
October 25 – Tynyanov, Death of the the Vazir-Mukhtar, pp. 70-142
October 30 – Andrei Platonov, “Soul” – Introduction, pp. vii-xviii; pp. 1-146; Notes, pp. 319-322
Second paper, final draft due
November 1 – Chingiz Aitmatov, “Jamila”
November 6 – Chingiz Aitmatov, The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years
November 8 – Aitmatov, The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years
November 13 – Fazil' Iskander, “Forbidden Fruit”
November 15 – Fazil' Iskander, Sandro of Chegem, "Foreword" and pp. 3-121
November 20 – Iskander, Sandro of Chegem, pp. 122-205
Third paper, rough draft due
Thanksgiving
November 27 – Iskander, Sandro of Chegem, pp. 206-368
November 29 – Hamid Ismailov, The Railway
December 4 – Ismailov, The Railway
December 6 – Anna Politkovskaya, A Small Corner of Hell, (Introduction, pp. 1-25), pp. 26-71
Third paper, final draft due
December 11 – Finish Politkovskaya; final discussion
Three-hour take-home final examination due at the end of exam period: 5 p.m. on December 21.
