Advanced Russian II: Great Short Works

Catalog description

A ghost robs a poor copy clerk of his prized overcoat. A nightmarish visit to a local museum somehow spirits a Russian refugee back to the Soviet Union. A desperate mother beats her son in order to ensure his bright future. Although Russian literature is famous for its long 19th-century novels, the absurdities of Russian society have been explored no less profoundly in short stories by Gogol, Nabokov, Petrushevskaya, and many others. This seminar examines the Russian short story as a form particularly suited to revealing the barbarism, hilarity, and ecstasy of human experience. Prerequisite: 82-391