LIT 174 Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls Instructor: Anne Hruska Winter 2012, January 11Th Through February 8Th Wednesdays, 7:00 to 8:50 Pm 5 Weeks

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LIT 174 Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls Instructor: Anne Hruska Winter 2012, January 11th through February 8th Wednesdays, 7:00 to 8:50 pm 5 weeks

I. Course description

First published in 1842, Dead Souls was a smash success among Russian readers, who loved it for its biting humor and its grotesque accuracy about the sordid side of Russian life. But what is Dead Souls, and how should we go about reading it? Is it a hard-hitting exposé of the evils of serfdom? A merciless (and hilarious) satire of Russian society? A veiled exploration of religious ideas? Or is Dead Souls primarily concerned with play: play with words, with images, and with narrative form? While Dead Souls can be read in all of those ways, it is also a work of great complexity that continually wriggles away from attempts to define it or pin it down.

In this class we will read Dead Souls from a number of different angles. We will explore its role in Gogol’s biography and in Russian cultural history, as well as some of the highly varied ways in which it has been interpreted. The goal will be not only to supply students with a scholarly framework for understanding Dead Souls, but also to allow each student to come to his own independent interpretation of this complex and controversial work.

Each class period will consist of two parts, each lasting about 50 minutes. The first part will be lecture, while the second will be class discussion. I'll often start the second part with a discussion of a specific passage from the text that I'll have asked you to focus on in your reading for that week.

Required text: Dead Souls, trans. Robert A. Maguire Recommended text: The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol, trans Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

II. Grades

Attendance and participation are required in order to get credit (on the CR/NC basis) for the class. That means you need to come to each class on time, and say at least one productive thing in class discussion in order to get credit for the course. If you miss more than one class, you'll be required to write a paper in order to get a CR grade for the course. (Or, if you just feel like writing a paper but don't want a grade on it, you can write a paper and I will comment on it, but will not give it a grade.)

If you are taking the class for a grade, then you'll be required to write an analytic paper of about 3-4 pages. Outside research won't be necessary for this paper. I recommend that you focus your paper on a short passage from the novel (anywhere from 2 paragraphs to several pages), giving an in-depth analysis of the details of that passage and making an argument for the significance of the passage in relationship to the novel as a whole. Papers will be evaluated based on their use of detail, the strength of the ideas they contain, and the degree to which these ideas are supported by the text. The due date for this paper will be February 15.

While I don't hold formal office hours, I'll be happy to talk with you about your papers on the phone or over email. I'm also available during the break and after class.

III. Communication

It helps me to know what's on your mind. If you have a question that you want addressed in class, ask it, either in class or by email. If you want suggestions for further reading, let me know - I can send you suggestions tailored specifically to your interests. If you want to brainstorm ideas for your paper, I'm happy to help. If you have a frustration, I want to hear about it.

IV. Reading and Lecture Schedule

Week 1: 1/11 Read up to p. 65 (end of Part I, chapter 3) Lecture topic: Gogol's biography and the writing of Dead Souls.

Week 2: 1/18 Read up to p. 121 (end of Part I, chapter 5). Read "Old World Landowners" from The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol Lecture topic: Serfdom, society and the culture of silence. Dead Souls in historical context.

Week 3: 1/25 Read up to p. 200 (end of Part I, chapter 8). Read "The Nose" from The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol. Lecture topic: Language and play. Translations.

Week 4: 2/1 Read up to p. 283 (end of Part I, chapter 11). Read parts of "Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends." Lecture topic: Looking for God in Dead Souls.

Week 5: 2/8 Read Part II, finish the novel. Lecture topic: How do you solve a problem like Dead Souls? Literature, meaning, and the meaning of literature.