......................

HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF 20th CENTURY RUSSIA David Brandenberger      This seminar is designed as an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of the Soviet Union in the twentieth century. Each weekly segment will explore a different problem in Soviet cultural history with the use of several interconnected original sources and secondary texts. While this seminar is not intended to be a complete survey of Soviet history or literature, and cannot substitute for the basic courses offered in those disciplines, it aims to provide a thorough overview of the important scholarly issues in Soviet history and literature as well as an introduction to the methods and techniques of interdisciplinary scholarship.   For every other reading assignment, you will be asked to generate a written response, with a minimum of four responses due by the end of the term. Different assignments will be made each week. Depending on the reading, these may include brief response papers, close analysis of texts or answers to a given list of questions. Writing assignments are intended to help focus reading and sharpen analytical skills. Three short essays are due on February 23, March 19 and April 27. 4-5 pages in length, they are to elaborate on class discussions.       SCHEDULE OF READINGS * indicates optional   FEBRUARY 1: REVOLUTION!   D. Orlovsky, "Russia in War and Revolution," in Russia: a History, 231-62 film clips from October (Eisenstein, 1927) Time of Troubles: the Diary of Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e, edited by T. Emmons, selections A. Blok, "The Twelve" (1918), 141-61, 347-59 O. Mandelshtam a) "About the Nature of the Word" (1922), 65-84; "The End of the Novel" (1928), 85-88; "Petr Chaadaev" (1915), 101-107 b) "In Petersburg we will gather again" (1920), 4pp.; "The Age" (1923-26), 4pp. E. Zamiatin, "On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters," 107-12; "The Cave," 135-45 "Acmeism," in A Handbook of Russian Literature, edited by V. Terras, 3pp.     FEBRUARY 8: BABEL, WAR AND IDENTITY   Isaac Babel, "Red Cavalry," in Collected Stories, entire idem, 1920 Diary, entire     FEBRUARY 15: REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE AND NEP   recording: "The Brick Factory," "Bublichki," in Mass Culture in Soviet Russia, edited by James von Geldern and Richard Stites, 69-71 film excerpt: The Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) R. Suny, The Soviet Experiment, 195-213 M. Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog, entire M. Zoshchenko, "The Lady Aristocrat," "Poverty," "The Story of a Man Who Was Purged from the Party" Vl. Mayakovskii, "Back Home!" (1925), 182-9 "Futurism," in A Handbook of Russian Literature, edited by V. Terras, 3pp. *W. Husband, "The NEP and the Revolutionary Experiment," in Russia: a History, 263-290     FEBRUARY 22: SOCIALIST REALISM AND SOVIET HEROISM   film: Chapaev (1934) F. Gladkov, Cement, entire K. Clark, The Soviet Novel: history as ritual, 2nd edition, 27-45, 68-155     FEBRUARY 23: first short paper due (4-5 pp.)     MARCH 1: THE REVOLUTION FROM ABOVE   L. Siegelbaum, "Building Stalinism," in Russia: a History, 290-318   interpretive debate: representing collectivization   "Swell the Harvest," "Rammed it Through" (F. Panferov) and "Bread" (V. Kirshon), in Mass Culture in Soviet Russia, edited by J. von Geldern and R. Stites, 142-52 (cp) Lynn Viola, Best Sons of the Fatherland: Workers in the Vanguard of Soviet Collectivization, 210-18, 74-120 (cp) *S. Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization, 174-203 (cp)   vs.   M. Dolot, Execution by Hunger: the Hidden Holocaust, 231pp.   *C. Ward, Stalin's Russia, 73-105 *S. Fitzpatrick, Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization, 174-203     MARCH 4: Salon discussion: Roger Chartier     MARCH 5: H&L Colloquium with Roger Chartier     MARCH 8: THE GREAT TERROR   A. Akhmatova, "Requiem" L. Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna, 144pp E. Ginzburg, Journey into the Whirlwind, selections *S. Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times, 119-217     MARCH 14: hand in drafts of Sophomore Essay     MARCH 15: THE SOPHOMORE ESSAY (workshop)     MARCH 19: Sophomore Essay due (Hist/Lit Office)     MARCH 22 "SPEAKING BOLSHEVIK?"   please choose either Kotkin or Hellbeck+Podlubnyi   S. Kotkin, Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as Civilization, 198-237 J. Hellbeck, "Fashioning the Stalinist Soul: the diary of Stepan Podlubnyi," Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas vol. 44 no. 4 (1996): 233-73 *"The Diary of Stepan Podlubnyi," in Intimacy and Terror: Soviet diaries of the 1930s, edited by V. Garros, N. Korenevskaya, and T. Lahusen, 291-331   plus   S. Davies, "'Us Against Them': Social Identity in Soviet Russia," Russian Review vol. 56 (1997): 70-89 A. Platonov, The Foundation Pit, 165pp.     MARCH 24-APRIL 1: SPRING BREAK     APRIL 5: THE GREAT RETREAT AND THE WAR   film clips from Aleksandr Nevskii (Eisenstein, 1938), Radiant Path (Aleksandrov, 1940) D. Brandenberger, "Proletarian Internationalism, 'Soviet Patriotism' and the Rise of Russocentric Etatism in the Stalinist 1930s," Left History vol. 6, no. 2 (2000): 80-100 W. Fuller, "The Great Fatherland War and Late Stalinism," in Russia: a History, 319-46 A. Tolstoi, "The Russian Character,"in Russkii kharakter: rasskazy sovetskikh pisatelei, 134-207 B. Polevoi, "Tale of a Real Man," in Mass Culture in Soviet Russia, 416-20 * K. Simonov, "The Third Adjutant," Russkii kharakter: rasskazy sovetskikh pisatelei, 134-207   and one of the following:   H. Smith, The Russians, 402-434 B. Slutsky, Things that Happen, selections     APRIL 12: THAW AND STAGNATION   G. Freeze, "From Stalinism to Stagnation," in Russia: a History, 347-82 V. Erofeev, Moscow to the End of the Line, 191pp. (plus Russian segment) E. Yevtushenko, "Babi Yar," entire. *Smith, The Russians, 30-134 film: Taxi blues (P. Lugin, 1990)     APRIL 19: EVERYDAY LIFE   N. Baranskaya, A Week Like Any Other: novellas and stories, trans. P. Monks, 1-62 (plus Russian segment) Moscow Women: Thirteen Interviews, edited by Carla Hansson and Karin Liden, 3-79 J. Brodsky, "Less Than One," "Nadezhda Mandelshtam: An Obituary," "In a Room and a Half," entire B. Okudzhava, "Song about Mozart" and "Once More About Fools" Smith, The Russians, 135-195     APRIL 26: THE FALL OF THE USSR AND THE EMERGENCE OF RUSSIA   film: Brother (Balabanov, 1998) M. McCauley, "From Perestroika towards a New Order," in Russia:a History, 383-421 V. Pelevin, The Werewolf Problem in Central Russia, selections     APRIL 27: second short paper due (4-5pp)