Teaching code

4S002953

Credits

9

Coordinatore

Stefano Aloe

Language

Russian

Also offered in courses:

• Russian Literature 3 of the course Bachelor's degree in Languages and literatures for publishing and digital media

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/21 - SLAVIC STUDIES

Moodle Seminars

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning objectives

The course completes the three-year path aimed at acquiring the basics of Russian literary and cultural history. It is therefore linked to courses held in the preceding years complementing them and undertaking in-depth examination of topics related to Russian works and movements.
At the end of the course students will be able to:
1) identify the main dynamics of modern and contemporary Russian historical and literary processes;
2) carry out a textual and comparative analysis using the acquired knowledge;
3) express autonomous and coherent opinions about outstanding moments of Russian cultural and historical development and analyse them properly.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Students must comply with the preparatory skills of Russian language and literature (exceptions are students for whom the course is a free choice). A knowledge of the Russian language of not less than B2 level is required.

Program

NATURE AND CIVILIZATION IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE

The course aims to outline some itineraries related to the theme of Nature and its links with Man, Russian Man and Civilization, as interpreted by Russian literature between the end of the eighteenth century and today. The importance of Nature and the reflection on its presence in human life is in fact central to Russian culture: Space, mainly horizontal and boundless (now as a wooded maze, now as a steppe desert), has always represented a term of comparison for the troubled identity of the Russian. Through a choice of literary, but also pictorial, musical and cinematographic works, we will analyze the main topoi of the Russian natural space: those of the countryside, the tajga, the steppe, to which are added "exotic" but close spaces, such as the Caucasus mountains , the deserts of Central Asia or the shores of the Black Sea. This attachment to Nature is also reflected in the relationship with the City, in particular with the Petersburg space, conceived as artificial and alien to the Russian environment, to the point of becoming one of the central topoi of Russian literature.

REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ettore Lo Gatto, Il mito di Pietroburgo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1991
Evel Gasparini, Il peso della terra: spettro antropologico della letteratura russa, Venezia, La goliardica, 1968

WORKS:
6 works are to be read, 5 of which are compulsory and one of your choice.
THE 5 MANDATORY READINGS (in Russian or Italian) are the following:
- An anthology that will be provided at the beginning of the course by the teacher
- Ivan Turgenev, Memoirs of a hunter (Записки охотника)
- Anton Čechov, La steppa (Степь)
- Andrej Platonov , Džan (Джан)
- Vasilij Shukšin, The red viburnum (Калина красная)

OPTIONAL READING (in Russian or Italian) will be chosen from the following:
- Michail Lermontov, A hero of our time (Герой нашего времени)
- Ivan Turgenev, A Noble's Nest (Дворянское гнездо)
- Nikolaj Leskov, The Enchanted Pilgrim (Очарованный странник)
- Anton Čechov, The Black Monk (Черный монах)
- Valentin Rasputin, Live and remember (Живи и помни)
- Sergej Lebedev, The Border of the oblivion (Предел забвенья)
- Evgenij Vodolazkin, Lauro (Лавр)

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Frontal lessons in the classroom.

Learning assessment procedures

Method of development:
the exam is oral and consists of an interview during which the student will be asked to explain with precision and autonomous reasoning skills what has been acquired during the course and in individual preparation. The program does not differ for attending and non-attending students: the latter will be able to find the materials necessary for their preparation in the program, in the pantry and on the dedicated e-learning page; if necessary, they can ask the teacher for additions or clarifications during office hours.

Evaluation criteria

Objectives:
the exam aims to verify
- the acquisition by the student of the basic spatial-temporal and conceptual coordinates of the course
- adequate knowledge relating to the topics and materials analyzed during the course and / or foreseen in the program
- the ability to autonomously and with full knowledge of the facts of the historical, social and cultural phenomena characteristic of Russia, especially for the period analyzed in the course.
Contents:
the exam will focus on the contents of the program and on the literary, artistic and historical-cultural materials analyzed during the course.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

Single vote out of thirty

Exam language

Russo e italiano