82049 - Russian Culture and Literature

Learning outcomes

The student - knows the core features (contents, methods and instruments) necessary for the in-depth analysis of Russian culture and literature - is able to apply this knowledge when tackling a range of semiotically challenging texts - is able to acquire higher-level cultural and literary knowledge and competences independently, and to apply them to a wide range of novel texts

Course contents

The course consists of two parts:

1.The first one focuses on V. Šklovsij's novel Zoo ili pis'ma ne o ljubvi. In 1922Viktor Š klovskij, the father of Russian formalism, is forced to flee to Berlin where the following year he publishes Zoo or letters not about love. In 1923 the author goes back to Russia, where the original work goes through five Russian editions. Many letters in the following editions are omitted, some of them for political reasons. The novel offers a good opportunity to analyse how Soviet censorship worked. At the same time Zoo is an interesting example of formalist novel, and is also an unusual novel about love and emigration.

2. The second part focuses on the interplay between art, literature and psychoanalysis in Russia at the beginning of XX century. The rapid diffusion of Freudian method is not only due to the peculiarities of Russian culture, which was ready to embrace in its bosom the new psychoanalytic discourse, but also to the fact that Russian psychoanalysts apply to literature to spread their ideas. Rozental’s and Osipov's articles (likewise many other works of Russian early psychoanalysts) suggest that literary centrism of Russian culture could have worked as a vehicle for a rapid diffusion of Freud’s new discipline in Russia.

Readings/Bibliography

• 1. SKLOVSKIJ V. , Zoo ili pis'ma ne o ljubvi, [1923] in Id., Ešč ëničego ne končilos', Moskva: Propaganda, 2002, pp. 267-333;
• ŠKLOVSKIJ V., Iskusstvo kak priem.

• GALUŠKIN A., Prigovorennyj smotret', in ŠKLOVSKIJ V., Ešč ëničego ne končilos', Moskva: Propaganda, 2002, pp. 5-14.

• RAEFF M., La cultura russa e l'emigrazione, in Storia della lett russa. Il Novecento. La rivoluz e gli anni Venti, Torino: Einaudi 1990, vol. 3**, pp. 63-99.

• Hanzen-Leve Oge A., Russkij formalizm: metodologičeskaja rekonstrukcija razvitija na osnove principa ostranenija, Moskva: Jazyki russkoj kultury, 2001, pp. 528-562.
• M. Zalambani, Esorcismo amoroso o esperimento letterario? Note su Zoo ili pis'ma ne o ljubvi, in "Europa Orientalis", 2001, 1, pp. 139-166.
• ŠKLOVSKIJ V., Zoo o lettere non d'amore (traduzione, introduzione e cura di M. Zalambani), Sellerio, Palermo 2002; 2^a edizione del 2015.

• ETKIND A., Eros nevozmožnogo, M. 1994.
• I.E. Sirotkina, Klassiki i psichiatry. Psichiatrija v rossijskoj kul’ture konca XIX – načala XX veka, Moskva 2009 (on line)
• RICE J., Freud’s Russia: national identity in the evolution of psychoanalysis, New Brunswick and London 1993
• ROZENTAL’ T., Stradanie i tvorčestvo Dostoevskogo, Ergo, 2011.
• FREUD S., Dostoevskij e il parricidio.
• OSIPOV N., N.E. Osipov, “Zapiski sumasšedšego”. Nezankončennoe proizvedenie L.N. Tolstogo (K voprosu ob èmocii bojazni), otdel’nyj ottisk iz žurnala “Psichoterapija”, 1913, 3.
• TOLSTOJ L.N.,, Zapiski sumasšedšego, in Id., Polnoe sobranie sočinenij v 90 tt., XXVI, Moskva 1936, pp. 466-474.
• M. Zalambani, I. Lelli, Fëdor Dostoevskij v interpretacii Tat’jany Rozental’: predvoschiščenie Frejda, Iževsk: ERGO, 2016.
• M. Zalambani, I. Lelli, Literatura i psichoanaliz v Rossii. Nikolaj Osipov i “Zapiski sumasšedšego" L’va Tolstogo, "Osipov-almanach: issledovanija, kommentarii, publikacii. Naučnye trudy Instituta razvitija psichoanalitičeskich issledovanij", vyp. 1, Iževsk: ERGO, 2015, pp. 115-141. CD-ROM / PDF.

Teaching methods

Methodological instruments necessary to analyse literary and historical texts and essays of the last two decades of Socialist realism will be offered, and through a critical methodology the analysed texts will be placed in the specific cultural context of the time.

The frequency is compulsory at 70% and the lessons are frontal.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of an oral test focused on the texts cited in the bibliography and on the notes of the lessons.

The test will be aimed at evaluating the student's theoretical knowledge concerning the treated authors and critics, as well as his/her critic ability in reading a literay text.

The evaluation will be based on the ECTS grading scale:

A [≈ 30/30 – 30/30 e lode]: outstanding performance with only minor errors;

B [≈ 27/30 – 29/30]: above the average standard but with some errors;

C [≈ 24/30 – 26/30]: generally sound work with a number of notable errors;

D [≈ 21/30 – 23/30]: fair but with significant shortcomings;

E [≈ 18/30 – 20/30]: performance meets the minimum criteria;

F [≈ 15/30 – 17/30]: Fail – some more work required before the credit can be awarded;

FX [≈ 0/30 – 14/30]: Fail – considerable further work is required.

Teaching tools

Photocopies and material available on Moodle.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Zalambani