LFU:online

Insight into Gogol’s poetics and Russian culture in the first half of the 19th century, familiarity with the skaz narration and the literary techniques of the grotesque, the comical and the absurd in drama and fiction.

In the seminar we will examine Gogol’s oeuvre mainly with respect to his poetical techniques. We will look at stories from the collections "Vechera na khutore bliz Dikan’ki",
"Mirgorod" and the "Petersburg Tales", we will also take into account the play "Revizor", the novel "Dead Souls" and the late autobiographical texts. The main question refers to Gogol’s narration style (the skaz), the plot and the composition of his works; we will also analyze Gogol’s (very modern) topics that are related to his unique technical devices, his position in Russian literature and the cultural context of his work.

input from lecturer, presentations by students, discussion

regular participation, willingness to take part in discussions, oral presentation, writing a term paper and perhaps also a bachelor’s thesis

Fusso Susanne, Meyer Priscilla (ed.) Essays on Gogol. Logos and the Russian Word.Evanston 1992.

Gippius, Vasilii V.: Gogol’. Ann Arbor: Ardis 1981.

Günther, Hans: Das Groteske bei Nikolaj Gogol’. Formen und Funktionen.

Nabokov, Vladimir V.: Gogol. London 1973.

Troyat, Henry: Gogol. Paris: Flammarion 1971.

positive completion of the introductory seminar literary studies

positive completion of PM 13 and 14

Due to substantial differences in the allocation of ECTS-Credits in various curricula (teacher training programs/specialized degree programs), the requirements for this course vary. Information will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.