LITR 041R. War and Peace in Russian Literature and Culture

(Cross-listed as RUSS 041)
This course explores Russian literary and cinematic responses to the ravages of war and revolution, heroic and bloody conflicts that repeatedly devastated the country throughout its tumultuous history. We will read a variety of texts dealing with wars in the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic invasion, the Crimean War, the Revolution of 1917, the Civil War, World War II, and various recent conflicts to explore how individual writers portray the calamity of war and its devastating effect on people’s lives, while expressing hope for ever-elusive peace and prosperity. Works to be read include Tolstoy’s War and Peace (of course), Bulgakov’s White Guard, Babel’s Red Cavalry, Grossman’s Life and Fate, and Akhmatova’s Poem Without a Hero. Films will include Alexander Nevsky, Battleship Potemkin, Ballad of a Soldier, My Name is Ivan, and Prisoner of the Mountains. All readings and discussions will be in English, and films will be screened with English subtitles.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: Russian
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/russian

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