This paper is available for the academic year 2025-26.
Joseph Stalin鈥檚 death in 1953 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 launched new eras in Soviet and Russian cultural history as artists confronted the past and looked for new means of self-expression. This paper examines literature, film, drama, and visual art produced from 1953 to the present day. It situates cultural texts in historical, social and political context while providing a range of theoretical tools for analysing late Soviet and contemporary works..
Texts listed below constitute a core 鈥榤enu鈥� for each topic: you are not expected to read all of them, nor do you need to limit your reading to these texts. Your supervisor will help you select the works that are most suitable for your interests and facility with Russian.
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Topic 1: Realisms
Grigorii Chukhrai, Ballada o soldate (film)
袦ikhail Kalatozov, Letiat zhuravli (film)
Vladimir Pomerantsev, 鈥淥b iskrennosti v literature鈥�
Mikhail Sholokhov, 鈥楽ud鈥檅a cheloveka鈥�
Andrei Tarkovskii, Ivanovo detstvo (film)
Abram Terts (Andrei Siniavskii), 鈥楥hto takoe sotsialisticheskii realizm鈥�
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Topic 2: Testimony
Lidiia Ginzburg, Zapiski blokadnogo cheloveka
Varlam Shalamov, Kolymskie rasskazy
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Odin den鈥� Ivana Denisovicha and selections from Arkhipelag GULag
Iurii Trifonov, 鈥楧om na naberezhnoi鈥�
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Topic 3: City and Country
Fedor Abramov, 鈥楧ereviannye koni鈥�
Natalia Baranskaia, 鈥楴edelia kak nedelia鈥�
Andrei Bitov. 鈥榋hizn鈥� v vetrenuiu pogodu鈥�
Marlen Khutsiev, Zastava Il鈥檌cha (film)
Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovskii, Asino schast鈥檌e (film)
Kira Muratova, Korotkie vstrechi (film)
Poetry and songs by Bella Akhmadulina, Joseph Brodsky, Evgenii Evtushenko, Bulat Okudzhava, Robert Rozhdestvenskii, Andrei Voznesenskii, Vladimir Vysotskii and others.
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Set Text 1
Venedikt Erofeev, Moskva-Petushki
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Topic 4: Resistance
Sergei Dovlatov, 鈥楰ompromiss piatyi鈥� in Kompromiss
Abram Terts (Andrei Siniavskii), 鈥楪rafomany (iz rasskazov o moei zhizni)鈥�, Liubimov
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 鈥楶is鈥檓o s鈥欌�檈zdu Soiuza pisatelei SSSR鈥�, 鈥榋hit ne po lzhi鈥�
Vladimir Voinovich, Ivan鈥檏iada
Songs by Aleksandr Galich
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Topic 5: Speech
Viktor Pelevin, 鈥楧eviataia son Very Pavlovny鈥�
Dmitrii Prigov, 鈥極pisanie predmetov鈥�
Liudmila Razumovskaia, Dorogaia Elena Sergeevna
Lev Rubinshtein, 鈥楶oiavlenie geroia鈥�
Vladimir Sorokin, 鈥榋asedanie partkoma鈥�
Visual art by Erik Bulatov, Il鈥檌a Kabakov, Vitali Komar and Aleksandr Melamid, Aleksandr Kosolapov, Andrei Monastyrskii, Viktor Pivovarov, and others.
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Set Text 2
Liudmila Petrushevskaia, Vremia noch鈥�
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Topic 6: Identity
Aleksei Balabanov, Brat (film)
Vladimir Makanin, 鈥楰avkazskii plennyi鈥�
Zakhar Prilepin, 鈥楽erzhant鈥�
German Sadulaev, 鈥極dna lastochka eshche ne delaet vesny鈥�
Tatiana Tolstaia, 鈥楽onia鈥�
Liudmila Ulitskaia, 鈥楽onechka鈥�
Poetry by Ol鈥檊a Sedakova and Galina Rymbu
The following list includes Set Texts and background reading. Students are urged to buy and read both Set Texts during the summer before the course begins.
- Dobrenko, Evgeny, and Mark Lipovetsky, eds.听Russian Literature Since 1991. 海角社区: 海角社区 University Press, 2015 (available online with Raven ID).
- Evgeny Dobrenko and Marina Balina, eds.听The 海角社区 Companion to Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. 海角社区: 海角社区 UP, 2011 (available online with Raven ID).
- Venedikt Erofeev,听Moskva-Petushki听(Set Text)
- Geoffrey A. Hosking.听The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within. 海角社区: Harvard UP, 1992.
- Andrew Kahn, Mark Lipovetsky, Irina Reyfman and Stephanie Sandler. A History of Russian Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
- Viktor Pelevin,听Generation 鈥淧鈥澨�(Set Text)
- Tatiana Smorodinskaya, Karen Evans-Romaine and Helena Goscilo, eds. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture. Routledge, 2006.
- Ronald Grigor Suny, ed.听The 海角社区 History of Russia: The Twentieth Century. Vol. 3. 海角社区: 海角社区 UP, 2006.
The paper is taught through a combination of weekly lectures and fortnightly supervisions, with two lectures and one supervision allocated to each Topic and Set Text. All writing assignments are due 48 hours before supervision. The schedule of lectures and supervisions is as follows:
Michaelmas Term: 8 weekly lectures and 4 fortnightly supervisions
Lent Term: 8 weekly lectures and 4 fortnightly supervisions
Easter Term: 4 weekly revision seminars and 2 fortnightly revision supervisions
For the SL6 Moodle site, please see听. The password can be collected from the paper coordinator.
Students are assessed by examination at the end of Easter Term. The examination paper is structured as follows:
Section A: One essay or commentary on the Set Texts. Students may choose from one comparative essay question on both texts, one essay question on one of the texts, and one extract for commentary from the other text.
Section B: Two essays on the Topics. Students are presented with two questions for each of the six Topics. They may choose to answer those questions using primary material from the other Topics. However, all answers in Section B must refer substantially to works by two or more artists of any medium, at least one of which must be a written text.
Students in Part 1B may choose the Long Essay option in lieu of sitting the final examination.
Students in Part II may choose to submit an Optional Dissertation in lieu of sitting the final examination.
Dr Susan Larsen |
