RUSS 385: Russian Drama Lyudmila Parts 1 Fall 2021

RUSS 385 Prof. Lyudmila Parts 688 Sherbrooke, #332 email: [email protected] T/TH 1:05-2:25. Notice different classrooms: Tuesday SH 688, # 491 Thursday SH 688, # 391 Office hours: Tuesday 2:30-3:30 and by appointment on Zoom

Russian Drama from Pushkin to Chekhov. Major topics: • The development of Russian Drama in the 19th century. Formation of dramatic canon. • Theories of drama and theater. Dramatic conventions and radical experiments with the form. • European influence and Russian context.

Texts on MyCourses to be printed out by you: 1. Alexander Griboedov, The Trouble with Reason 2-5. Alexander Pushkin, Boris Godunov; Little Tragedies (3): Miserly Knight, Mozart and Salieri, The Stone Guest 6. Mikhail Lermontov, Masquerade 7. Nikolai Gogol, The Inspector General 8. Ivan Turgenev, A Month in the Country 9-10. Alexander Ostrovsky, The Storm; The Dowerless Girl 11. Maxim Gorky, The Lower Depth 12. Leo Tolstoy, The Fruits of Enlightenment 13-14. Anton Chekhov, The Seagull; Three Sisters 15. Mikhail Bulgakov, The Days of the Turbins.

Requirements: Short paper (3-4 pages) - a close reading of a passage or an exploration of a theme. Topics will be posted in advance on MyCourses.

Final paper (5-6 pages) - on the topic dealing with a period, author, work, theme, cultural problem, and/or theoretical issue discussed in the course.

Group projects (two): I will divide the class into small groups and assign the topics for presentation and plays for performance. See MyCourses for details. For both projects, each student submits individual report and receives an individual grade.

1. Presentation: topics are assigned. Use at least two critical sources (discuss with me if they are hard to find). Observe the time limit: 15 minutes. Presentation topics: • The Stone Guest before Pushkin. • Gogol the Moralist. • Ostrovsky and the professionalization of theater. RUSS 385: Russian Drama Lyudmila Parts 2 Fall 2021 • Stanislavsky’s method • Chekhov’s theater

2. Performance-Interpretation of a Scene: group performance of a scene plus commentary- interpretation. Each group chooses a scene and performs a kind of “close-reading-in-action,” in the format you deem appropriate. You can actually perform the scene and provide analytical commentary on your interpretation, or read and interpret the scene, etc. Each participant submits a report outlining 1) her/his participation in the preparation of the assignment; 2) synopsis of the analysis (not to be identical for all members of the group).

Policies: Attendance and participation: this is a discussion-format seminar, therefore regular attendance and active participation is expected from all students. Unexcused absence will result in reduction of the attendance and participation part of the grade. Note that emailing me about a missed class does not constitute an excused absence.

Should you be unable to be in class or to participate due to illness, absence, or any other reason including just being shy, there will be a discussion board for additional participation. Please make use of this as a way to develop your ideas and bounce them off of your peers and your instructor. The goal is to foster a discussion, so using the board must be done in a timely manner. Responding (respectfully) to other students will be understood as creating more robust discussion. Topics will be posted.

PRINT OUT TEXTS.

Your presentation, group performance, and papers should not be on the same plays.

Grade: class attendance and participation – 15% performance – 15% presentation – 20% short paper– 20% final paper – 30%

Students with grades of D, F or J do NOT have the option of doing additional work to upgrade their final standing. In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change. In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures. For more information, see the Calendar, section 4.7.2.1, General University Information and Regulations at www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/

Selected Critical Sources: Simon Karlinsky. Russian Drama from Its Beginnings to the Age of Pushkin, Berkley: University of California Press, 1985. RUSS 385: Russian Drama Lyudmila Parts 3 Fall 2021 Imitations of Life: Two Centuries of Melodrama in Russia. Ed. Louise McReynolds and Joan Neuberger. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002. A History of Russian Theatre. Ed. Robert Leach and Victor Borovsky. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Russian Literature in the Age of Realism. Ed. Gillespie, Alyssa Dinega. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2003. Alexander Pushkin’s Little Tragedies: the Poetics of Brevity. Ed. Svetlana Evdokimova. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. Caryl Emerson. “Boris Godunov and a Poetics of Transposition” and “Boris in Drama: Pushkin.” In Boris Godunov: Transposition of a Russian Theme, 1-29, 88-141 (Chapters 1 and 3). Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1986. Richard Peace, The Enigma of Gogol, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981. Donald Fanger, Exploring Gogol, Belknap Press/Harvard UP, 1979. Vasily Gippius, “The Inspector General: Structure and Problems” [1936] In Gogol from the Twentieth Century, Princeton: Princeton UP, 1974. Richard Freeborn. “Turgenev the Dramatist.” In Critical Essays on Ivan Turgenev, 102-117. Ed. David A. Lowe. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1989. Henri Troyat, Gorky. New York: Crown, 1989. Pitcher, Harvey, The Chekhov Play: A New Interpretation, Chatto & Windus, 1973. Gilman, Richard, Chekhov's Plays: An Opening into Eternity, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Lesley Milne. Bulgakov: the Novelist-Playwright. Australia, U.S: Harwood, 1995. Smeliansky, Anatoly. Is Comrade Bulgakov Dead? Mikhail Bulgakov at the Moscow Art Theatre. Tranls. Arch Tait. New York: Routledge, 1993

Reading Schedule (Check MyCourses regularly for changes and updates):

Week 1: Sept 2

Introduction. Aristotle, Poetics, excerpt.

Week 2: Sept 7-9

Griboedov, “The Trouble with Reason” [1824]

Week 3: Sept 14-16

Pushkin, “Boris Godunov” [1825] Historical background on MyCourses

Week 4: Sept 21-23 Presentation Stone Guest (Sept. 23)

Pushkin, The Little Tragedies: “Miserly Knight,” “Mozart and Salieri” “The Stone Guest.” [1830] RUSS 385: Russian Drama Lyudmila Parts 4 Fall 2021

Week 5 Sept 28-30 Presentation Gogol (Sept. 30).

Lermontov, Masquerade [1835]

Week 6: Oct 5-7 Performance

Gogol, The Inspector General [1836]

Week 7: Friday Oct 15 [Tuesday schedule] First paper is due.

Turgenev, A Month in the Country [1850]

Week 8: Oct 19-21 Presentation Ostrovsky

Ostrovsky, The Storm [1859]

Week 9: Oct 26-28

Ostrovsky, Without a Dowry [1879]

Week 10: Nov 2-4 Performance (Nov 2) and Presentation Stanislavsky (Nov 4) Tolstoy, The Fruits of Enlightenment [1890]

Week 11: Nov 9-11 Performance

Gorky, The Lower Depth [1902]

Week 12: Nov 16 Nov 18 - class is cancelled

Chekhov, The Seagull [1898]

Week 13: Nov 23-25 Presentation Chekhov // Performance

Chekhov, Three Sisters. [1900]

Week 14: Nov 30-Dec 2

Bulgakov, The Days of the Turbins [1925] Performance

December 13 – final paper is due.