Contemporary Russia and its Twentieth-Century Roots

Name: Contemporary Russia and its Twentieth-Century Roots
Start: 2018-09-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2018-09-22T01:00:00-05:00
Location: Contemporary Russia and its Twentieth-Century Roots

Sep 22, 2018

Often viewed as a vast, inscrutable power, today’s Russia appears less enigmatic when considered in the context of its twentieth-century intellectual history. This eight-session course will help illuminate contemporary Russia by tracing its present-day debates and ideas to their early twentieth-century precursors.

Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (August 7 at 10 am – August 31 at 4 pm): $265
Regular Registration Price (August 31 at 4 pm – first day of class): $291.5

Members, seniors, and students get a 10% discount.

Mark your Calendar!

The Newberry Bookstore will re-open on August 14, and you will once again be able to find most of your assigned books for sale there.

Seminar Description

Often viewed as a vast, inscrutable power, today’s Russia appears less enigmatic when considered in the context of its twentieth-century intellectual history. Faced with censorship and stifled social debate, Russian thinkers of the twentieth century turned to literature to express their ideas more safely. This eight-session course will help illuminate contemporary Russia by tracing its present-day debates and ideas to their early twentieth-century precursors. In particular, we will pay close attention to the attempts made then – and now – by Russian writers to locate the country’s position between East and West, define its identity, and assert its national pride.

Eight sessions. E - $265, L - $291.50

Nina Wieda teaches at Northwestern University. She received her PhD in Russian literature from Northwestern University and her MA in Nationalism Studies from Central European University.

Materials List

Required:

Clarence Brown, The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader, Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 978-0142437575

Optional:

Anton Chekhov, Stories of Anton Chekhov, Modern Library, 2000. ISBN: 978-0553381009
Isaac Babel, Red Cavalry, Pushkin Collection, 2015. ISBN: 978-1782270935
Andrei Patanov, The Foundation Pit, NYRB Classics; New York Review Books Classics edition, 2009. ISBN: 978-1590173053
Viktor Pelevin, Omon Ra, New Directions, 1998. ISBN: 978-0811213646
Eugenia Gizburg, Journey Into the Whirlwind, Mariner Books, 2002. ISBN: 978-0156027519
Venedikt Erofeev, Moscow to the End of the Line, Northwestern University Press, 1992. ISBN: 978-0810112001

First Reading:

There is no reading assignment for the first class.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.