LFU:online

Students are familiar with central historical, cultural, and literary developments of the late 20th and early 21st century in Russia, in the 'Near Abroad', and within Russian diasporic communities around the world; they are familiar with main literary styles of the epoch, literary genres, authors, and texts. Furthermore, they have acquired knowledge about processes that took place in arts other than literature, namely architecture, music, and visual arts.

The lecture will focus on Russian and Russophone literatures after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. We will read drama, poetry, and prose written not only in Russia but also by Russophone writers in the newly indepedent states, the so called 'Near Abroad' (Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan etc.). Furthermore, we will look into Russophone literatures on a global scale, in particular in countries such as Germany, Israel, and the United States, where hunderds of thousands of former Soviet citizens now live. We will discuss recent aestetic currents and developments such as Postmodernism, 'New Sincerity' and get to know a range of prominent authors and central texts that defined and continue to define these literatures since 1991.

The lecture employs a broad range of methodical approaches focusing mainly on literary and cultural history. Furthermore, it will demonstrate how the Formal and Structural schools applied their respective methods to analyze individual texts and the development of literary genres. More recent  theories and research methods (e.g. Transculturality, Cultural-, Gender-, and Postcolonial Studies) will also be introduced.

Written examination

Borenstein, Eliot (Ed.): Russian Postmodernist Fiction: Dialogue with Chaos. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe Inc, 1999.

Dobrenko, Evgeny, Lipovetsky, Marc (Eds.): Russian Literature since 1991.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015

Leiderman, Naum, Lipovetsky, Marc: Russkaja literatura XX veka: 1950-е—1990-е gody. Moskva: Akademija, 2001 (v 2-ch tomach)

Lipovetsky, Marc: Paralogii. Transformacii (post)modernistskogo diskursa v russkoj kul'ture 1920-ch—2000-ch godov. Moskva: Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, 2008.

Platt, Kevin M.F. (Ed.): Russian Cultures and Global Situation. Madison (WI): University of Wisconsin Press, 2019.