Course: RUS4016/RUS5016/COM5016 - Contemporary Russian Short Stories - 2022/23

Topic outline

Select topic Essential Module Information

Essential Module Information

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This module analyses the specific features of the short story form, its theorizations, history, considering how the genre’s specific features have been used to express the concerns and currents of recent Russian life since 1991. Themes analysed include post-modernism, women’s writing, the reckoning with the Soviet past, diasporic literature and the search for a new, Russian identity. Authors studied include Liudmilla Petrushevskaia, Tatiana Tolstaia, Viktor Pelevin, Zakhar Prilepin and Anna Starobinets.
- Select activity Assignment coversheet
  
  Assignment coversheet File
  
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- Select activity Assessment Profile and Feedback Timetable
  
  Assessment Profile and Feedback Timetable Page
- Select activity Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria
  
  Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria Page
- Select activity Teaching and Learning Profile
  
  Teaching and Learning Profile Page
- Select activity Student Academic Engagement Policy
  
  Student Academic Engagement Policy Page
- Select activity Module Outline
  
  Module Outline File
  
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- Select activity Essay One/Assignment One
  
  Essay One/Assignment One
- Select activity Module Announcements
  
  Module Announcements Forum
- Select activity Q-Review Lecture Recordings
  
  Q-Review Lecture Recordings External tool
- Select activity Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
  
  Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms URL
Select topic Week 1 – Introduction

Week 1 – Introduction
Introduction: Definition of the Short Story; Contemporary Russian Literature
Texts Referred to:
The Short Story
Paul March-Russell, The Short Story: An Introduction, Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005.
Farhat Iftekharrudin, Joseph Boyden, Joseph Longo, and Mary Rohrberger, Postmodern Approaches to the Short Story, Westwood CO and London: Greenwood, 2003.
Charles May, The Reality of Artifice: The Short Story, New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
Russian Literature since 1991
Evgeny Dobrenko and Mark Lipovetsky, Russian Literature Since 1991, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, 1-19.
Noordenbos, Boris. Post-Soviet literature and the search for a Russian identity, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Russian Politics and Society
Richard Sakwa, Russian Politics and Society, 3^rdedn, London and New York: Routledge, 2002.
Richard Sakwa, Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia. Burlington, VT; Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2014.
Case Study
Irina Polianskaia, ‘Snow Falls Ever So Quietly’(1995)
Ирина Полянская, 'Снег идет тихо-тихо'(1995)
- Select activity For week one, there is no required reading to be c...
  
  For week one, there is no required reading to be conducted prior to class. The readings here are ones that will be referred to in the introduction, and excerpts from them will be discussed and applied in the seminar to the case study.
- Select activity Week 1 slides
  
  Week 1 slides File
  
  4.9 MB
- Select activity Week 1 Handout - definitions of the short story
  
  Week 1 Handout - definitions of the short story File
  
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- Select activity Week 1 seminar sheet: Snow falls ever so quietly
  
  Week 1 seminar sheet: Snow falls ever so quietly File
  
  1.6 MB
Select topic Weeks 2-4 Thematic Bloc 1: The Post-Modern and the Post-Soviet

Weeks 2-4 Thematic Bloc 1: The Post-Modern and the Post-Soviet
- Select activity Contextual Reading for Thematic Bloc Mark Lipovetsky, ‘On the Nature of Russian Post-Modernism,’
  
  Contextual Reading for Thematic Bloc Mark Lipovetsky, ‘On the Nature of Russian Post-Modernism,’ File
  
  2.4 MB
- Select activity Week 2: Vladimir Sorokin, 'Passing Through' (written 1984; published 1993)
  
  Week 2: Vladimir Sorokin, 'Passing Through' (written 1984; published 1993) Folder
- Select activity Week 2 slides
  
  Week 2 slides File
  
  4.5 MB
- Select activity Week 2 handout
  
  Week 2 handout File
  
  3.5 MB
- Select activity Week 2 extracts for seminar
  
  Week 2 extracts for seminar File
  
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- Select activity Week 3: Liudmilla Petrushevskaia, ‘Hygiene,’ (1990) ‘New Robinson’ (1989)
  
  Week 3: Liudmilla Petrushevskaia, ‘Hygiene,’ (1990) ‘New Robinson’ (1989) Folder
- Select activity Week 3 slides
  
  Week 3 slides File
  
  17.6 MB
- Select activity Week 3 Handout
  
  Week 3 Handout File
  
  2.5 MB
- Select activity Week 3 Handout - Russian texts
  
  Week 3 Handout - Russian texts File
  
  15.4 KB
- Select activity Week 4: Viktor Pelevin, ‘Mid-game’ (1993)
  
  Week 4: Viktor Pelevin, ‘Mid-game’ (1993) Folder
- Select activity Week 4 slides
  
  Week 4 slides File
  
  6.7 MB
- Select activity Week 4 handout
  
  Week 4 handout File
  
  1.1 MB
Select topic Weeks 5-8 Thematic Bloc 2: Rethinking Identities (Gender)

Weeks 5-8 Thematic Bloc 2: Rethinking Identities (Gender)
Contextual Reading for Thematic Bloc (weeks 5-8)
- Sarah Aswin, ‘Introduction: Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia,’ Sarah Aswin (ed.), in Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia, London: Routledge, 2000, 18-22.
- Heleno Goscilo, Dehexing Sex, 5-18. (see folder below)
- Select activity Making a Difference : Feminist Literary Criticism, edited by Gayle Green, and Coppélia Kahn, Routledge, 2003.
  
  Making a Difference : Feminist Literary Criticism, edited by Gayle Green, and Coppélia Kahn, Routledge, 2003. URL
- Select activity Goscilo, Dehexing Sex, 5-30
  
  Goscilo, Dehexing Sex, 5-30 File
  
  3.3 MB
- Select activity Week 5. Liudmila Ulitskaia, ‘The Gift Not Mae by Human Hand' (1993)
  
  Week 5. Liudmila Ulitskaia, ‘The Gift Not Mae by Human Hand' (1993) Folder
- Select activity Week 5 slides
  
  Week 5 slides File
  
  6.2 MB
- Select activity Week 5 - seminar sheet
  
  Week 5 - seminar sheet File
  
  2.6 MB
- Select activity Week 6. Anna Starobinets, 'The Icarus Gland' (2013)
  
  Week 6. Anna Starobinets, 'The Icarus Gland' (2013) Folder
- Select activity Week 6 Seminar sheet
  
  Week 6 Seminar sheet File
  
  144.4 KB
- Select activity Week 6 slides
  
  Week 6 slides File
  
  2.0 MB
- Select activity Week 8. Slava Mogutin, ‘The Death of Misha Beautiful' (1996)
  
  Week 8. Slava Mogutin, ‘The Death of Misha Beautiful' (1996) Folder
- Select activity Week 8 slides
  
  Week 8 slides File
  
  4.0 MB
- Select activity Week 8 seminar sheet
  
  Week 8 seminar sheet File
  
  1.4 MB
Select topic Weeks 9-11 Thematic Bloc 3: Rethinking Identities (Nation, Space and Belonging)

Weeks 9-11 Thematic Bloc 3: Rethinking Identities (Nation, Space and Belonging)
Contextual Reading for Thematic Bloc
Noordenbos, Boris. Post-Soviet literature and the search for a Russian identity, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, 1-25.
- Select activity Week 9. Vladimir Makanin, 'The Prisoner from the Caucasus' (1995)
  
  Week 9. Vladimir Makanin, 'The Prisoner from the Caucasus' (1995) Folder
- Select activity Week 11. Zakhar Prilepin, 'The Sergeant' (2008)
  
  Week 11. Zakhar Prilepin, 'The Sergeant' (2008) Folder
- Select activity Sadulaev, One Swallow
  
  Sadulaev, One Swallow File
  
  17.5 MB
- Select activity Week 10 slides
  
  Week 10 slides File
  
  33.2 MB
- Select activity Week 10 Handout
  
  Week 10 Handout File
  
  3.4 MB
- Select activity Wek 11 Slides
  
  Wek 11 Slides File
  
  4.6 MB
- Select activity Week 11 handout
  
  Week 11 handout File
  
  711.6 KB
Select topic Week 12 Essay Workshops

Week 12 Essay Workshops
- Select activity Essay Feedback Workshop Sheet
  
  Essay Feedback Workshop Sheet File
  
  20.1 KB
- Select activity Essay Planning Workshop Sheet
  
  Essay Planning Workshop Sheet File
  
  16.1 KB
- Select activity Source on trauma in literature - Cathy Caruth
  
  Source on trauma in literature - Cathy Caruth URL
Select topic Q-Review

Q-Review
- Select activity Lecture Recordings
  
  Lecture Recordings External tool

Topic outline

Essential Module Information

Week 1 – Introduction

Weeks 2-4 Thematic Bloc 1: The Post-Modern and the Post-Soviet

Weeks 5-8 Thematic Bloc 2: Rethinking Identities (Gender)

Weeks 9-11 Thematic Bloc 3: Rethinking Identities (Nation, Space and Belonging)

Week 12 Essay Workshops

Q-Review