American Studies Minor (Level 3)
American Studies Single Honours (Level 3)
English and American Literatures Single Honours (Level 3)
English Dual Honours (Level 3)
English Major (Level 3)
English Minor (Level 3)
The Russian realists - Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov - number among Russia&İs most profound influences on European culture. In the hands of such writers realism became a potent medium for social criticism and also for psychological analysis.
This module concentrates particularly on the latter function. As early as the 1840s we can see the contours of the psychological novel developing in Lermontov&İs idiosyncratically structured A Hero of Our Time, with its alienated hero or $ùsuperfluous man&İ. By the 1860s Turgenev is able to elaborate this literary type into a proto-revolutionary hero in his novel Fathers and Children. Dostoevsky&İs celebrated Crime and Punishment explores the relationship between crime and guilt, a theme also central to Tolstoy&İs The Kreutzer Sonata. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, also by Tolstoy, revolves around an existential crisis precipitated by terminal illness. The Cherry Orchard, probably Chekhov&İs best known play, explores the tragedy of nostalgic self-delusion. All of these works anticipate and lay the foundations for the Freudian and existentialist revolutions which were to transform twentieth-century thought.
Russian realism was also radically concerned with female psychology. This module features remarkable gynocentric works which powerfully document women&İs varied reactions to their social predicament in nineteenth-century Russia: the assertive heroines of Turgenev&İs On the Eve and Khvoshchinskaya&İs Boarding-School Girl and, as the new century opens, Chekhov&İs Three Sisters dreaming of Moscow in their provincial backwater.
To enable students acquire a critical understanding of key works of classical Russian literature.
To enable students to understand and evaluate the ways in which realist writing addresses social, cultural and political issues.
To enable students to explore the ways in which literature deals with such subjective issues as personal identity, motivation and emotional crisis.
To provide students with a grounding in English literature with the opportunity to acquire comparative knowledge from a parallel cultural instance.
critically assess the relationships between historical and cultural discourses as they apply to imperial Russia will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
make critical creative use of literary materials in interpreting Russian history will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
demonstrate an enhanced understanding of English literature by study of a parallel cultural instance, nineteenth-century Russia will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
articulate ideas in a coherent and clear written form will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
respond positively to feedback will be achieved by assessments: 1
50 hours seminar preparation
78 hours assessment preparation
Students will write one essay chosen from a list of topics distributed at the start of the module.
students select two essay-style questions from a list of options. The questions will be based on the module contents.
This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.