Survey of major movements and institutions, genres, familiar and less studied writers and intellectuals of the second half of the nineteenth century. Imperial culture in the reform era. Realism as literary movement, professionalization of literature and criticism, the novel and serialization, the short story and drama. Taught in English, all readings in English. Gogol’s writings are examined through various theoretical approaches. Includes cinematic (Taras Bulba, Viy, Overcoat) and musical (Shostakovich’s “Nose”) re-creations of Gogol’s works. Taught in English, all readings in English. Special attention is paid to the nature and evolution of Nabokov's aesthetics; the place of his novels in European and American literary traditions; Nabokov's creative uses of exile to artistic, philosophical and ideological ends; the aesthetic and cultural implications of the writers' switch from Russian to English. Novels studied: Defense, Despair, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, Pnin, Pale Fire. Taught in English, all readings in English.
Survey of major movements and institutions, genres, familiar and less studied writers and intellectuals of the second half of the nineteenth century. Imperial culture in the reform era. Realism as literary movement, professionalization of literature and criticism, the novel and serialization, the short story and drama. Taught in English, all readings in English. Gogol’s writings are examined through various theoretical approaches. Includes cinematic (Taras Bulba, Viy, Overcoat) and musical (Shostakovich’s “Nose”) re-creations of Gogol’s works. Taught in English, all readings in English. Special attention is paid to the nature and evolution of Nabokov's aesthetics; the place of his novels in European and American literary traditions; Nabokov's creative uses of exile to artistic, philosophical and ideological ends; the aesthetic and cultural implications of the writers' switch from Russian to English. Novels studied: Defense, Despair, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, Pnin, Pale Fire. Taught in English, all readings in English.
