Module RUSS3331: CENSORSHIP AND SUBVERSION IN RUSSIAN CULTURE

Department: Modern Language and Cultures (Russian)

RUSS3331: CENSORSHIP AND SUBVERSION IN RUSSIAN CULTURE

Prerequisites

• Russian Language 2B (RUSS2151) OR an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/woman of Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Corequisites

• Modern European Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes; Russian Language (RUSS3031). Others: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• The module aims to give the student an understanding of how and to what effect censorship of the arts has operated in Russian culture from Tsarism to the present day.
• It explores a range of texts, including poetry, novels and films, which were subject to interference from the censors, looks at how the official mechanisms for censorship evolved, and examines key practices in Russian culture such as samizdat and tamizdat.

Content

• This module will give an overview of the relationship between the artist and censor from the nineteenth century to the present. Works from the nineteenth century will include Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman and the missing chapter from Dostoevsky's The Possessed.
• Works from the Soviet period will include semizdat pieces and other non-official works, including Akhmatova's Requiem, Mandel'shtam's 'We do not sense the country beneath us', and Tarkovsky's film Andrei Rublev.
• These primary materials will be supplemented by Russian and Western histories of Russian censorship.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module the student should demonstrate a critical understanding of how censorship operated in different periods and with regard to different media.

• By the end of the module students should be able to offer analyses of sensitive works and the reasons why they were judged to be subversive.

• The student should demonstrate an ability to marshal ideas and structure arguments clearly, to use secondary material judiciously and to think independently.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures will provide information relating to historical, cultural and political context, and introduce specific examples of censored works/passages.
• Seminar work will develop close reading skills and involve discussion of selected parts of works as well as overviews of texts.
• Coursework in the form of essays will enable students to demonstrate and develop their ideas about the operation of censorship in Russian culture.
• A final examination will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of particular set texts.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University