RUSS 007. FYS: Childhood in East European Literature

Ever since Philippe Ariès, in his seminal study Centuries of Childhood (1962), startled the reading public by positing the concept of childhood as a fairly recent, 17th-century invention, debates on its historical and cultural conditioning have been raging unabated. The very defining features of childhood are still contested by enduring dichotomies: is it an autonomous world unto itself, or just a crucible for imminent maturity? A mere time span or a category of experience; a sanctuary of original innocence or a playground for diabolical adventure? Does the child’s mind amount to a clean slate or a network of predetermined patterns? Who bears the ultimate responsibility for the welfare, as well as transgressions, of the child: the parent or the state?–and what, then, can be said for the child’s own agency? The child’s knotted symbolic status, caught between exemplarity and dispensability, promise and confoundment, is what we will grapple with in this course, along with other meanings that this figure has accrued over the years in various East European contexts. No knowledge of Russian or any other Slavic language is required; all readings, papers, and discussions will be in English.
FYS
Humanities.
1 credit.
Spring 2026. Svynarenko.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: Russian
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/russian

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