Russian Fairy Tales
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RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 1 University of Pittsburgh Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures RUSS 0090: Russian Fairy Tales Spring 2018 Instructors: Lectures: Monday, Wednesday Chip Crane ([email protected]) 12:00PM - 12:50PM-- David Lawrence 121 Viktoria Batista ([email protected]) Offices: CL 12th floor- Slavic Department, 9th Emjay O’Shea ([email protected]) floor- German Department Eleanor Soekorv ([email protected]) Office hours: Check Courseweb Schedule of Classes and Assignments Abbreviations: AA—Afanas′ev, A. Russian Fairy Tales. BB—Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. LI—Ivanits, Linda J. Russian Folk Belief. CW—CourseWeb * The instructors reserve rights to make changes in course schedule throughout the term. WEEK 1 SYLLABUS. DEFINITIONS AND ISSUES. RUSSIA AND ITS PEOPLE Monday, January Assignment due 7 None LECTURE Wednesday, BABA YAGA AND KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS January 9 Assignment due LECTURE AA: “Baba Yaga and the Brave Youth,” pp. 76-79 AA: “Baba Yaga,” pp. 194-195 AA: “Koshchey the Deathless,” pp. 485-494 In Class Film clip: A. Rou’s Fire, Water, and Copper Pipe Thursday, IVAN THE FOOL January 10, Assignment due Friday, January CW: Andrei Sinyavsky, “Ivan the Fool” (PDF) 11 Bring Afanas′ev to class RECITATION AA: “Ivanushko, the Little Fool,” pp. 62–66 AA: “Emelya The Simpelton” pp. 46-48 WEEK 2 MAX LÜTHI AND STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLKTALES Monday, January Assignment due 14 CW: Max Lüthi’s The European Folk Tale: Form and Nature (PDF) LECTURE AA: “Ivan the Peasant’s Son and the Thumb-Sized Man,” pp. 262–68 RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 2 Wednesday, THE AUTHORSHIP OF FOLKLORE January 16 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Petr Bogatyrev and Roman Jakobson, “Folklore as a Special Form of Creativity” (PDF) CW: Aleksandr Ostrovskii, “The Snow Maiden” (PDF) Thursday, FOLKLORE AND FOLKTALES January 17, Assignment due Friday, January Deadline for notifying instructors and Office of Disability Resources of special 18 accommodation requests. (See Course Description or consult with one of the RECITATION instructors for details.) Bring Afanas′ev to class AA: “Misery,” pp. 20–24 AA: “Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf,” pp. 612-25 AA: “Maria Morevna,” pp. 553–562 WEEK 3 NO CLASSES—MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY Monday, January 21 Wednesday, RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY AND RUSSIAN PAGANISM January 23 Assignment due LECTURE LI: pp. 3–18, 51–63, 169–177 In Class Pagan deities and festivals Film Clip: A. Tarkovskii’s Andrei Rublev (1966) Thursday, DOMESTIC SPIRITS AND NATURE SPIRITS January 24, Assignment due Friday, January CW: List of terms in CourseWeb in Course Documents folder 25 LI: pp. 64–82, 178–189 RECITATION Bring Ivanits to Class WEEK 4 STRUCTURALIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: PROPP Monday, January Assignment due 28 Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale, pp. 1-45 (PDF) LECTURE AA: “The Magic Swan Geese,” pp. 349–51 Wednesday, STRUCTURALIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: PROPP January 30 Assignment due LECTURE Vladimir Propp’s “The Method and Material,” pp. 18–24, 149–55 (PDF) AA: “Ivan the Peasant’s Son and the Thumb-Sized Man,” pp. 262-68 Thursday, STRUCTURALIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: PROPP January 31, Assignment due Friday, February AA: “The Crystal Mountain,” pp. 482-85 1 Review for examination #1. Come to class with questions or requests to review RECITATION specific material. RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 3 WEEK 5 EXAMINATION #1 Monday, Includes all materials (readings, lectures, recitations) to date. February 4 LECTURE Wednesday, PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: FREUD AND BETTELHEIM February 6 Assignment due LECTURE BB: pp. 97–111 ("The Three Languages," "The Three Feathers") AA: “The Three Kingdoms,” pp. 49-54 Thursday, BETTELHEIM: YOUNGEST CHILD AND CINDERELLA TALES February 7, Assignment due Friday, February BB: pp. 236-250 ("Cinderella") 8 AA: “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” pp. 439-47 RECITATION WEEK 6 BETTELHEIM: SLEEPING BEAUTY TALES Monday, Assignment due February 11 BB: pp. 225–236 ("The Sleeping Beauty") LECTURE AA: “Prince Ivan and Princess Martha,” pp. 79–86 AA: “The Enchanted Princess,” pp. 600–611 In Class Video clip: Sleeping Beauty (ballet) Wednesday, BETTELHEIM: ANIMAL BRIDE AND GROOM TALES February 13 Assignment due LECTURE BB: pp. 282-291, 299-310 ("The Animal Groom," Snow White and Rose-Red," "The Frog Prince," "Bluebeard," "Beauty and the Beast") AA: “The Snotty Goat,” pp. 200–202 CW: Sergei Aksakov, “The Little Scarlet Flower” (PDF) In Class Film clip: L. Atamanov’s The Little Scarlet Flower Thursday, BETTELHEIM: SLEEPING BEAUTY AND ANIMAL BRIDE AND GROOM TALES February 14, Assignment due Friday, February AA: “The Frog Princess,” pp. 119–123 15 AA: “The Feather of Finist, the Bright Falcon,” pp. 580-588 RECITATION WEEK 7 FAIRY TALES AND VISUAL ART Monday, In Class February 18 Russian Folk Art LECTURE Russian High Art RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 4 Wednesday, FEMINIST APPROACHES TO FAIRY TALES: LIEBERMAN February 20 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Marcia Lieberman, “Some Day My Prince Will Come” (PDF) REVIEW: AA: “The Snotty Goat,” pp. 200–202 REVIEW: AA: “Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf,” pp. 612-25 REVIEW: AA: “Maria Morevna,” pp. 553–562 In Class Film clip: I. Ivanov-Vano’s The Tale of the Dead Princes and Seven Knights (1951) Thursday, FEMINIST APPROACHES TO FAIRY TALES: BAD WIVES, WISE MAIDENS February 21, Assignment due Friday, February AA: “The Bad Wife,” pp. 56–57 22 AA: “The Wondrous Wonder, the Marvelous Marvel,” pp. 13–15 RECITATION AA: “The Goldfish,” pp. 528–33 AA: “The Wise Little Girl,” pp. 252–55 AA: “The Wise Maiden and the Seven Robbers,” pp. 134–40 WEEK 8 WICKED STEPMOTHERS: WARNER Monday, Assignment due February 25 CW: Warner, “Wicked Stepmothers,” (PDF) LECTURE CW: Aleksandr Afanas′ev, “The Magic Mirror” (PDF) Wednesday, WICKED STEPMOTHERS: GILBERT AND GUBAR February 27 CW: Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, “The Queen’s Looking Glass” (PDF) LECTURE In Class Film clip: Disney, Snow White (1937) Thursday, WICKED STEPMOTHERS February 28, Assignment due Friday, March 1 AA: “Burenushka, the Little Red Cow,” pp. 146–150 RECITATION AA: “Jack Frost,” pp. 366-39 AA: “Baba Yaga,” pp. 194-195 AA: “The Maiden Tsar,” pp. 229–234 Review for examination #2. Come to class with questions or requests to review specific material. WEEK 9 EXAMINATION # 2 Monday, March 4 Focused all materials (readings, lectures, recitations) since first examination, but LECTURE may require knowledge from the entire course. Wednesday, EPICS AND BYLINY March 6 Assignment due LECTURE CW: “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber” (bylina) (PDF) CW: “Sadko” (bylina) (PDF) In Class Film clip: Ptushko, The Sword and the Dragon (1956) RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 5 Thursday, BYLINY AND FAIRY TALES March 7, Friday, Assignment due March 8 AA: “Ivan the Simpleton,” pp. 142–145 RECITATION AA: “Foma Berennikov,” pp. 284–287 AA: “Ilya Muromets and the Dragon,” pp. 569–575 WEEK 10 SPRING BREAK Sunday March Spring Break. Do not come to class! 10-Sunday, March 17 WEEK 11 MARXIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES Monday, Assignment due March 18 CW: Selections from Jack Zipes’s Breaking the Magic Spell (PDF) LECTURE Wednesday, MARXISM AND DISNEY March 20 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell,” pp. 72–95 (PDF) Thursday, MARXIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES March 21, Friday, Assignment due March 22 AA: “Salt,” pp. 40–44 RECITATION Review lecture notes. Come prepared to analyze tales from Marxist perspective WEEK 12 PUSHKIN AND ROMANTICISM Monday, March Assignment due 25 CW: Aleksandr Pushkin, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son, the Glorious and LECTURE Mighty Knight Prince Guidon Saltonovich, and of the Fair Swan-Princess” (PDF) Wednesday, ROMANTICISM AND ORIENTALISM March 27 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Mikhail Lermontov, “Ashik-Kerib” (PDF) In Class Film clip: Paradjanov’s Ashik Kerib Thursday, ROMANTICISM AND ORIENTALISM March 28, Friday, Assignment due March 29 CW: Aleksandr Pushkin, “The Golden Cockerel” (PDF) RECITATION WEEK 13 SOVIET POWER AND FAIRY TALES Monday, April 1 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Valentin Kataev, “The Flower of Seven Colors” (PDF) CW: Arkadii Gaidar, “Tale of the Military Secret” (PDF) In Class Film Clip: M. Tsekhanovsky’s The Flower of Seven Colors (1948) RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 6 Wednesday, SOCIALIST REALISM April 3 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Katerina Clark, The Soviet Novel (PDF) In Class Film Clip: M. Chiaureli’s The Fall of Berlin (1948) Thursday, SOVIET FAIRY TALES April 4 Friday, CW: Lazar Lagin’s The Old Genie Khottabych: A Story of Make-Believe (PDF) April 5 RECITATION WEEK 14 ALTERNATIVES: KHARMS AND ABSURDISM Monday, April 8 Assignment due LECTURE CW: Daniil Kharms, “A Ffairy Tale,” “A Fable, ” “The Copper Look,” and “The Four-Legged Crow” (PDF) Wednesday, POST-SOVIET TALES April 10 Watch LECTURE Vadim Sokolovskii's The Book Of Masters Thursday, POST-SOVIET TALES April 11, Friday, Assignment due April 12 CW: Liudmila Petrushevskaia, “The Cabbage Patch Mother" (PDF) RECITATION WEEK 15 REVIEW FOR EXAMINATION #3 Monday, April 15 Assignment due LECTURE Look over material covered since Examination #2 Bring any questions you have to class. Wednesday, EXAMINATION #3 April 17 Emphasizes all materials (readings, lectures, recitations) since Examination #2, but may LECTURE require knowledge from the entire course. There is no separate final examination. Thursday, Wrap-Up April 18, Friday, Final Thoughts April 19 Evaluation of Recitation Instructors RECITATION Monday- FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK Saturday, April NO FINAL EXAM! 22-28 RUSS 0090 Spring 2019 Syllabus Page 7 Course Goals Folk beliefs are a rich and enduring component of Russian culture. This course introduces students to a wide selection of Russian fairy tales, and examines the aesthetic, social, and psychological values that they reflect. Students will develop or enhance their understanding of the continuing cultural influence of fairy tales and folk beliefs in literature, in orchestral music, opera, and ballet, in painting, posters, and folk art, as well as in film.