Russian 408
Russian Decadent and Symbolist Culture in a European Context
Full course for one semester. The course investigates Russian
Decadent and Symbolist literature in a broad European context. We
will study the philosophical foundations of Decadent culture
(Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Solov'ev); the preoccupation with
"degeneration," common in the European science of the fin-de-siècle
(Krafft-Ebing, Weininger); the "aestheticism" (J. K. Huysmans,
Oscar Wilde); and the interpretations of sexuality (André Gide,
Thomas Mann). The Russian component of the reading includes the
works of Zinaida Gippius, Viacheslav Ivanov, Fedor Sologub, Mikhail
Kuzmin, Evdokiia Nagrodskaia, Aleksandr Blok, and Andrei Bely. This
course will emphasize a research component: a research paper will
be due at the end of the semester. Prerequisite: students who wish
to take the course for Russian credit must have completed Russian
220 or obtain the consent of the instructor. Conference.
Cross-listed as Literature 408. Not offered 2005-06.
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