Learning outcomes

After the course the student has a basic knowledge of culture and literature (literature, popular culture, philosophy, religion etc.) of Russia and the Soviet Union.

Contents

Basic course on Russian culture and literature or essay or book examination.

Evaluation and evaluation criteria

Numeric 1-5.
Numerical grading scale 1-5 or Pass/Fail -grading based on overall performance.

Study materials

Book examination:

Students can choose to take the book examination for 3 or 5 ECTS. All the books in the module have to be examined at once, i.e. it is not possible to complete the module by taking it book by book.

3 ECTS:

Figes, Orlando: Natasha's Dance. 2002.

OR the following three books:

Hellberg-Hirn, Elena: Soil and Soul. The Symbolic World of Russianness. Ashgate 1998.
Kelly, Catriona and Shepherd, David (eds.): Constructing Culture in the Age of Revolution, 1881-1940. Oxford University Press 1998.
Kelly Catriona and Shepherd, David (eds.): Russian Cultural Studies. An Introduction. Oxford University Press 1998.

5 ECTS:

Clark, K.: The Soviet Novel. History as a Ritual. 1981.
AND
Kelly, Catriona and Shepherd, David (eds.): Costructiong Culture at the Age of Revolution, 1881-1940. Oxford University Press 1998.
AND
Kelly Catriona and Shepherd, David (eds.): Russian Cultural Studies. An Introduction. Oxford University Press 1998.

Essay:

The student can choose to complete the module by writing an essay on a topic chosen together with the teacher in charge of the module. At least seven academic sources need to be used in the essay. Possible sources include for example the following books:

Hellberg-Hirn, Elena: Soil and Soul. The Symbolic World of Russianness. Ashgate 1998.
Hellberg-Hirn, Elena: Imperial imprints post-Soviet St. Petersburg. 2003.
Figes, Orlando: Natasha's Dance. 2002.
Kelly, Catriona and Shepherd, David (eds.): Constructing Culture in the Age of Revolution, 1881-1940. Oxford University Press 1998.
Kelly, Catriona and Shepherd, David (eds.): Russian Cultural Studies. An Introduction. Oxford University Press 1998.
Epstein, M.N.: After the Future: The Paradoxes of Postmodernism and Contemporary Russian Culture. University of Massachusetts Press 1997.
Epstein, M.N.: Russian Postmodernism: New Perspectives on Post-Soviet Culture. 1999.

Stites, Richard: Revolutionary Dreams. Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution. 1998.
Condee, Nancy: Soviet Hieroglyphics. Visual Culture in Late Twentieth-Century Russia. 1995.
Nakhimovsky, A.D., Nakhimovsky, A.S. (Eds.): The Semiotics of Russian Cultural History: Essays by Jurii M. Lotman, Lidiia Ia. Ginzburg, Boris Uspenskii.

Clark, K.: The Soviet Novel: History as Ritual. 1981.
Fitzpatrick, S. : The Cultural Front: Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia. 1992.
Brown, D. : Last Years of Soviet Russian Literature. Prose Fiction 1975-1991. 1993.
Barker, A.: Consuming Russia. popular Culture, sex and Society since Gorbachev. 1999.

Belongs to following study modules