Boris Pasternak and the Poetry of the Russian Avant-garde

Catalog description

This seminar discusses the developments in Russian avant-garde art from the eve of 1917 revolution to the imposition of the doctrine of Socialist Realism. We will analyze experimental Futurist poetic language and techniques in the context of the polemics of various modernist movements and will compare them with the sweeping changes that took place in early XX century visual art and music in Western Europe. The secrets of modernist poetics will be revealed through close reading and analysis of eccentric, complex and difficult poems. The focus is on the work of three major poets: Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Marina Tsvetaeva. The seminar will also address the theoretical debates and literary battles in pre-revolutionary and early Soviet periods, the role of the government in culture under socialism and the response of artists and poets to the state's pressure.