Time Schedule:
Barbara J Henry
RUSS 430
Seattle Campus
Major Russian writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among authors read are Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Babel, Ilf and Petrov, Olesha. Content varies.
Class description
This course will examine the works of Russia’s great modernist writer, Isaak Babel’ (1894-1940). Babel’ first came to public notice in the early 1920s for his chronicle of the bitter and bloody Polish-Soviet war, in "Red Cavalry". He went on to confirm this early promise in his boisterous tales of Jewish gangsters (Odessa Stories), dramas (Sunset, Mar’ya), films (Benya Krik, Jewish Luck (Menakhem Mendel), and in his remarkable “Autobiographical” stories. Babel’s untimely death – at the hands of the Soviet secret police – cut short one of the most original voices in twentieth-century literature. In this class we will be reading all of Babel’s major story-cycles: Red Cavalry, Odessa Stories, Autobiographical Stories; as well as various biographical materials. We will also see two of the films for which Babel’ wrote original and adapted screenplays, and read at least one of Babel’s dramas.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Discussion & lecture
Recommended preparation
Some knowledge of Russian and Jewish culture and history is desirable, but not essential. No prior knowledge of the subject will be assumed.
Class assignments and grading
One class presentation on a subject of student's choosing, one final paper 5-10 pp. in length.
Participation in class discussion, presentation, final paper.
