Russian 302 : The Russian Short Story: Pathologies of the Everyday
EuLit/GenEd/WAC
Professor: Kristin Bidoshi
Phone: 388-6234
E-Mail: bidoshik@union.edu
Course Description: This course is a survey of the Russian short story and its various representations in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Specifically, we will focus on what constitutes this prose genre. Is the primary qualification of the Russian short story a simple issue of quantitative criteria such as the number of words or pages, or does it include the qualitative and formal differences that mark the short story as a distinctive genre in its own right? The existence in Russian of such different terms as gjdtcnm, hfccrfp, yjdtkkf, each of which are subsumed by the general definition of “short form”, only furthers the complication. We will investigate issues of genre as well as general themes such as the authors’ emphasis of reflected and distorted images of Russian everyday life. The course will be conducted in Russian as a combination of lectures and class discussion.
Course Requirements and Evaluation: Students will be expected to have completed the reading for each class as outlined below and to actively contribute to class discussion. Students are strongly encouraged to attend classes regularly. In addition, students will be responsible for the presentation of one short story. You must sign up for a presentation slot and have your topic approved no later than the end of the third week of class. Students will also write three two page short response papers, each of which will be due the third, sixth and eighth week of class. The final six-page paper will be submitted first as a draft and then as a final version. Detailed instructions on writing assignments will be provided. The final grade for the course will be determined based on the following:
Attendance and Participation 30%
Three Response Papers 30% (10% each)
Presentation 15%
Final Paper (6 pgs) 25%