Russian 125

Modern Russia through Film and Fiction
Fall Semester 2002
Tues/Thurs 1:10

 

Prof. Jane Costlow
102 Hathorn
786-6289
jcostlow@bates.edu

  

Office hours:
Tues/Thurs 2:30-4, Wed. 1-3
and by appointment
     
 

 

 

  
 
A meeting of two worlds: the Jewish villager meets the Soviet Commissar (from Askoldov's Commissar, 1966)
  


 

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russian society entered a period of ferment and exploration that was to leave both Russia and the world forever changed.  Revolutionary visions of a classless workers" society drove the upheavals of 1917; artistic visions of radically new ways to see and express the world inspired poets, composers, dancers and film makers.  This course explores some of the films and fictional works that reflect the revolutionary dreams and ultimate realities of the Soviet century.  The course hinges on the intersections of history, politics and the imagination:  What were the social and political ideals that inspired the creation of a workers' state? How are those ideals reflected, celebrated or criticized by these films and stories?  How is the "private" made political in the Soviet Union?  How do gender roles change?  How did the experience of German invasion and World War affect ordinary Russians?  How are post-Soviet Russians coming to grips with the legacy of their parents' and grandparents' lives?  How can we relate these stories and films to our own lives in a society seemingly so distant in both space and time?

 

  
 

 

The work of the course is split between viewing films and reading short fiction; class time will be spent in focussed discussion that takes off from pre-assigned questions. You may access these questions via the website, by clicking on the reading for the day. Linked pages also include relevant maps, images and web links of interest.

Requirements for the course are as follows:
attendance at all classes and screenings, completion of all assigned reading prior to the class for which it is assigned, and participation in class discussion (10%)
four brief reflection papers, due Fridays, developed from class discussion questions (30%)[These are due Fridays but may be handed in earlier; you must hand in two before and two after October break; which weeks you hand them in is up to you]
two five-page papers, due October 15 and December 5 (40%)
a final essay exam (20%)

NB:  more than two unexcused absences will result in an automatic deduction of one full point from your final grade.

 

  

 

 

 

     
 

Required Course Materials, for sale in the college Bookstore:

Lydia Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna
Yuri Trifonov, The Exchange and the House on the Embankment
Tatyana Tolstaya, On the Golden Porch
Victor Pelevin, The Yellow Arrow
Coursepack of short fiction and memoirs

  
     

 

Schedule of Readings and Screenings

NB: All Films are screened at 7:00 in Olin 104 (with the exception of Battleship Potemkin)

Sept. 5
Introductory:themes, questions, historical outline.
Dziga Vertov, "Man with a Movie Camera"

Sept. 9
Screening of Battleship Potemkin

Sept. 10
Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin
Gillespie, "Sergei Eisenstein: The Mytho-poetics of Revolution" in Early Soviet Cinema (Reserve)
Mark Joyce, The Soviet Montage Cinema of the 1920's" in An Introduction to Film Studies (ed. Nelmes) (Reserve)

Sept. 12
Isaac Babel, "The Story of My Dovecote" and other stories and Evgenii Zamyatin, "The Cave" (Coursepack)

Sept. 16
Screening of Bed and Sofa

Sept. 17
Room, Bed and Sofa
Kollontai, "The Social Basis of the Woman Question" (Reserve)
Graffy, "After Bed and Sofa: The Reception of the Film and the Fate of the Themes" (Reserve) READ pp. 89 - 104

Sept. 19
Mikhail Zoshchenko, "Nervous People" and other short stories and Yuri Olesha, "Love" and "The Cherry Stone" (Coursepack)


Sept. 23
Screening of Entuziazm

Sept. 24
Vertov, Entuziazm
Richard Stites, "Man the Machine" (Reserve)

Sept. 26
Andrei Platonov, "Fro" and "Among Animals and Plants" (Coursepack)

Sept. 30
Screening of Circus

Oct. 1
Alexandrov, Circus
Richard Stites, "Movies for the Millions" (Reserve)

Oct. 3
Lydia Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna

Oct. 7
Screening of The Cranes are Flying

Oct. 8
The Cranes are Flying
Kenez, "Films of the Second World War" (Reserve)

Oct. 10
Vasilii Grossman, "Good is Stronger than Evil" from The Years of War (Reserve)
Ilya Ehrenberg, excerpts from The War 1941 " 45 (Coursepack)
excerpts from Writing the Seige of Leningrad (Reserve)

Oct. 14
Screening of The Mirror

Oct. 15
Tarkovsky, The Mirror

FALL BREAK

Oct. 22
Iurii Trifonov, The House on the Embankment

Oct. 23 [NB: Wednesday Evening - Hathorn 314]
Screening of The Ascent 8:00

Oct. 24
No class

Oct. 28
Screening of Kommissar (Olin 104, 7:00)

Oct. 29: Class Convenes at 12:00 - LUNCH PROVIDED!!!
Larisa Shepitko, The Ascent
Quart, "Larisa Shepitko" (Reserve)
Askoldov, Kommissar
Stishova, "Passions over Commissar" (Reserve)

Oct. 31
Nina Sadur, "Irons and Diamonds" and Ludmilla Ulitskaya, "March 1953" and "Barley Soup"

Nov. 4
Screening of Moscow Doesn"t Believe in Tears

Nov. 5
Menshov, Moscow Doesn"t Believe in Tears|
Baranskaya, "The Alarm Clock in the Cupboard" (Reserve)

Nov. 7
 review/catch-up day

Nov. 11
Screening of Little Vera

Nov. 12
Pichul, Little Vera
George Faraday, "From Masochism to Mythology" in Revolt of the Filmmakers (Reserve)

Nov. 14
Igor Kon', "Sexuality and Culture" from Sex and Russian Society (Reserve), espec. pp. 22 - 26, 35 - 42.
Tatyana Tolstaya, "On the Golden Porch," "Hunting the Wooly Mammoth," "A Clean Sheet" (all in On the Golden Porch)

Nov. 18
Screening of Burnt by the Sun

Nov. 19
Mikhalkov, Burnt by the Sun
"Politics" in Dear Comrade Editor (Reserve)

Nov. 21
selected stories by Varlaam Shalamov, Irina Polyanskaya and Tatyana Tolstaya

THANKSGIVING BREAK

Dec. 2
Screening of Window to Paris

Dec. 3
Mamin, "Window to Paris"

Dec. 5
Victor Pelevin, The Yellow Arrow